Here’s what’s left of two State Highway Patrol cruisers that were involved in a high speed chase on Thursday.
Everything began on I-75 near Beaverdam and worked its way south on the interstate.
“We had got a report of a reckless op vehicle. What we consider that is a car traveling at a high rate of speed. Sometime the report comes in as a vehicle in and out of traffic. In this vehicle yesterday we had a report of vehicle traveling well over 100 miles an hour,” said Sgt. Matthew Schmenk with the Lima post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Stop sticks were deployed near Bluelick road.
The two cruisers were damaged when the officers from the Lima and Wapakoneta posts, tried to implement a rolling roadblock south of there.
“We tried to slow the suspect vehicle down by boxing him in with several patrol cars. The suspect got very erratic at that point, tried to swerve in and out of our roadblock, rammed one of our vehicles in the rear end and then once he made initial with our cruiser, he tried to make a left side pass on our cruiser and we drove him into the median. At that point in time, there was a break in the median wire where the suspect drove through the wire and started driving southbound in the northbound lanes,” said Schmenk.
The chase ended near Cridersville when a cruiser hit the Mustang head-on and that vehicle became stuck in the median.
The driver, 22 year old Shawn Gregory of Fisherville, Kentucky and a passenger, 21 year old Kaylee Herman of Louisville Kentucky were in Lima Municipal Court Friday afternoon on preliminary charges.
Gregory had apparently stole the Mustang at a Van Buren gas station after leaving a previously stolen car at that location.
“He’s being held right now in the Allen County Jail. The only charges that we have filed on him is fleeing and eluding. There will be more charges to follow,”
Gregory is being held on $100,000 bond and his passenger is being held on $250,000 bond.
Both have hearings coming up in Lima Municipal Court on June 22nd.
