A man was arrested after he refused to pull over for police and then defecated in the back of a cruiser.

Tuesday, Paintsville Police received calls of a man in a green Dodge Challenger on the side of the road. The callers said the man fired a gun in the air and later at a pickup truck.

Police found the Challenger on US 23 driving southbound. When they tried to pull the car over, it turned onto Middle Fork Road and then abruptly veered into a driveway.

When the car came to a stop, officers got out of their cruiser and, with guns ready, ordered the driver to get down on the ground.

The driver, Darrin Gene Blankenship, got down to his knees but did not go down to his stomach as ordered, police say. After calling for backup, an officer came up behind Blankenship, forced him to the ground and cuffed him.

During the arrest, Blankenship's wife came outside and tried to interfere, police say. She was also criminally charged.

Police found a small .380 caliber handgun with a full magazine and no round in the chamber in Blankenship's pocket. Blankenship appeared to be drunk.

After kicking an officer in the shin, resisting the officer's attempt to put him in a cruiser and yelling threats, Blankenship defecated in the back seat, police say.

Blankenship said he did not stop for police because he had to go to the bathroom. He also complained that someone had thrown rocks all over his car and passed him on the right.

On the way to the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center, Blankenship defecated in the cruiser a second time.

He faces charges of wanton endangerment, fleeing or evading police, driving under the influence, menacing, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, fourth-degree assault and third-degree terroristic threatening.