A police chase Dec. 22 that ended in a crash in Ravenna Township damaged a pole and left residents without electricity.
Ravenna Police Sgt. Joshua Erb stated in a report that the incident began when police were dispatched to a reckless vehicle complaint and the vehicles involved were pulling up to the police station on South Park Way just before 10 p.m. Dec. 22.
Another driver would later tell police that a vehicle was driving erratically and tailgating him and passed him on a double yellow line. He said the motorist’s actions made him feel in danger and that the driver was a threat to others.
Erb said he and Officer Alex DeHoff at that time were pulling up to the station with another person who was being arrested over a separate matter.
As the two vehicles pulled up to the station, officers at first weren’t sure which vehicle wanted to file a complaint and which one was the subject of the complaint. Then, a black Nissan accelerated past the other car, went through the city’s police-only parking spots, failed to stop at the stop sign at Park Way and Spruce Avenue and accelerated west on Spruce Avenue.
As Erb chased the suspect, a dispatcher told him the Nissan was the subject of the reckless vehicle complaint. Erb said he saw the driver fail to stop for stop signs at Grant Street and then turn his vehicle lights off, run a stop sign at King Street and turn north.
Erb said he saw the vehicle head west on Main Street at a “high rate of speed.” He asked Officer Cruz Montes and Officer Kyle Dirk to head his way. He stated he caught up to the Nissan at State Route 59 and Bridge Street in Ravenna Township and activated his emergency lights to conduct a traffic stop.
He called the license plate number into dispatch as the vehicle headed north on Bridge Street and “accelerated at a high rate of speed.” Erb activated his emergency siren and asked for help from the Ohio Highway Patrol and the Portage County Sheriff’s Office.
Erb said he noted in communication with dispatch that he was chasing the Nissan at speeds ranging from 63 mph to 87 mph along Jones Avenue and Wall Street, and the vehicle sped out of site.
Erb said he was about to terminate the search if the license plate came back with no concerns, when he saw a large flash from a utility pole transformer that blew, and saw the vehicle in the front yard of a property in the 6700 block of Wall Street with heavy damage and a utility pole split in half.
The driver, later identified as Paul Swigart, 18, of Kent, was seen climbing out of the driver’s window and running south through the yard and into the woods. Erb brought K-9 Drago to assist the foot chase, and Swigart was arrested after crossing Wall Street and running into the woods again.
Swigart was charged with failure to comply, a third-degree felony, with other potential charges to be considered by a grand jury. He was evaluated at University Hospitals Portage Medical Center and released and taken to jail.
Several people in the Blackhorse area of Ravenna Township reported that they lost power because of the crash. Electricity was restored to the area around 4 a.m. Dec. 23, they stated on social media.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Ravenna police chase ends in crash, township residents lose power
Reporting by Diane Smith, Ravenna Record-Courier / Record-Courier
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