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CAHOKIA, Ill. (AP) - Police say a suspect running from authorities jumped from a highway ramp leading to a Mississippi River bridge into St. Louis. The man survived and is hospitalized.

The Belleville News-Democrat reports that investigators in Cahokia, Ill., just southeast of St. Louis, were conducting a sweep Wednesday for fugitives and illegal drugs and guns when the man sped away from police trying to stop his car.

The suspect then crashed on an on-ramp of the Poplar Street Bridge and tried to flee on foot before leaping over a guardrail.

Police say he survived the fall and attempted to hide after he landed but was arrested.

His name and medical status were not immediately available Thursday.

   BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) - Three southwestern Illinois men are accused of violating the state's absentee ballot laws before a municipal election earlier this month.

   Prosecutors in St. Clair County charged 59 year old James Haywood Jr. of Cahokia and August Stacker Jr. of Belleville with one count apiece of violation of absentee ballots. Twenty-five-year-old Steveland Kidd of Cahokia faces two felony counts.

   The county's state's attorney, Brendan Kelly, says 27 absentee ballots from municipal elections involving Alorton and Cahokia were challenged and rejected, based on the findings of investigators.

   The three were jailed on Tuesday, when Kelly announced the charges. Online court records don't show whether they have attorneys.