RANTOUL – A Chicago man is being held at the Champaign County Jail on $10,000 bond after Rantoul police say he led them on a chase in a stolen car and crashed the vehicle into a police squad car.

Earmani Conley, 22, who listed an address in Chicago, pleaded innocent on Monday to unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle, aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude police and criminal damage to property.

If convicted of the most serious charge, Conley could be sentenced to up to seven years in prison.

Judge John Kennedy set Conley's next court appearance for April 5.

According to a police report, state police attempted to stop a southbound 2010 Ford Flex driven by Conley on Interstate 57 near mile marker 276 in rural Buckley at 11:15 p.m. Saturday.

The vehicle eluded police until a Rantoul police officer saw the vehicle heading west on U.S. 136 at Chanute Street at 12:24 a.m. Sunday, the report said. When the police officer activated his lights, the Ford Flex at first pulled over to the side of the road before proceeding to drive off again.

Police pursued the vehicle and attempted to stop it at Century Boulevard and North Drive, where it came to a stop and then continued east on North Drive, the report said.

After the Ford Flex drove through several other streets in Rantoul, police resumed their pursuit at Grove Street and U.S. 136 and followed the car east on U.S. 136 out of Rantoul to Gifford, where it turned south into a cul de sac.

When the driver turned the vehicle around in the cul de sac, it struck a Rantoul patrol car. Nobody was injured, according to the report.

The Ford Flex then pulled away from the cul de sac and headed back west on U.S. 136, where it encountered some drop sticks that Rantoul police deployed at U.S. 136 and County Road 1900E, about 1 mile east of Rantoul. The stop sticks deflated the Ford Flex's tires, but the driver continued to Rantoul before the vehicle drove into a snow bank at the Mobil Super Pantry, 1295 East Grove Ave., where police took Conley into custody.

Two passengers in the vehicle, an 18-year-old woman and a 24-year-old woman, were both detained and later released without any charges, the report said.

According to the report, the Ford Flex had been reported stolen in Elgin about a week ago.