Pick-up truck lands on top of Ohio cop car in end to dramatic road chase: Terrified onlookers get OUT of their
Harrowing footage shows the moment a police chase in Ohio[2] culminated with the suspect's truck crashing atop a poorly positioned cop car.
Rife with gunfire, the video comes straight from a highway in Dayton, where many - including the person behind the camera - witnessed the chase[3] on US 35 Monday.
The driver also managed to capture the multi-vehicle crash that ensued, which cops said was initially spurred by reports of a man striking a relative with the same pickup at a nearby trailer park.
He also caught some of the subsequent shooting, when cops flocked to subdue him.
When cops got to the scene, Trotwood Police Chief Erik Wilson explained, police found the female victim. Later in the day, the officer recounted how an effort to administer aid was interrupted by the fleeing suspect[4], who by then had already brandished his weapon.
Still unnamed, the man proceeded to speed past officers - pointing 'a long' firearm as he passed. A chase ensued, the chief continued, ending with the suspect and an officer who had been inside the car that was careened into both being hospitalized.
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Harrowing footage out of Dayton, Ohio, shows how a police chase Monday afternoon culminated with the suspect's truck crashing atop a cop car (seen here)
The suspect, still unnamed, has been hospitalized, cops said, as is the case with the Trotwood police officer inside the cop car that the suspect's careened into
As of Tuesday, the suspect has yet to be named, but both are expected to survive with minor injuries, cops said.
A few hours after the scare - which as the witness footage indicates, was like something out of a warzone - the chief described to a packed room how his department believed the events transpired, building up to to gun battle climax that occurred after the the perp crashed and swerved into oncoming traffic.[5]
'At approximately 10:54 am on today's date, Trotwood police crews were dispatched to Voyager Village trailer park home for a vehicle-pedestrian accident,' he recalled.
'Upon crews' arrival to the trailer park complex, crews located a female victim and were rendering first-aid to [her after she was] struck by the suspect,' he continued.
'While this was going on, the suspect involved in the accident drove past the police crews at a high rate of speed, and pointed a long weapon at them as he drove by,' Wilson went on to reveal.
'Trotwood officers then attempted to catch up to the vehicle and affect a traffic a stop, but the suspect continued to travel east on Third Street/US 35.'
At that point, the officer said, the man behind the wheel 'began swerving into oncoming traffic.
'The suspect then turned right, on US 35, and continued to head east,' he added. By then, several other agencies, including the Montgomery County Sheriff, had joined in on the chase, which went on to escalate even further, he said.
As of Tuesday, the suspect has yet to be named, but both are expected to survive with minor injuries, cops said
Several clips captured by bystanders caught the action on the roadway in the early afternoon - all rife which were filled with gunfire as cops sought to subdue the suspects seconds after he crashed into the cop car
The crash - which as of Tuesday was still being investigated - saw not just one, but two police vehilces struck, cops said, with video and photos showing a Montgomery Sheriff patrol vehicle also severely damaged by the strike
A few hours after the scare - which as the witness footage indicates was like something out of a warzone - Trotwood Police Chief Erik Wilson described how his department believed the events transpired
'At approximately 10:54 am on today's date, Trotwood police crews were dispatched to Voyager Village trailer park home for a vehicle-pedestrian accident,' he recalled
'Upon crews' arrival to the trailer park complex, crews located a female victim and were rendering first-aid to [her after she was] struck by the suspect,' he continued
'While this was going on, the suspect involved in the accident drove past the police crews at a high rate of speed, and pointed a long weapon at them as he drove by,' Wilson went on to reveal
'Trotwood officers then attempted to catch up to the vehicle and affect a traffic a stop, but the suspect continued to travel east on Third Street/US 35'
'The suspect then turned right, on US 35, and continued to head east,' he added. By then, several other agencies, including the Montgomery County Sheriff, had joined in on the chase, which went on to escalate even further
In an attempt to avoid this, Wilson revealed, 'an attempt to stop the vehicle was made' - leading the suspect to '[make] a U-turn at Abbey [Avenue] and US 35' so that he was now heading back westbound, Wilson said
That's when the perpetrator 'began firing at officers from his moving vehicle', Wilson recalled - before going on to describe how the fleeing truck eventually found itself atop one of the responding police vehicles, after crashing into another
'At the intersection of Liscum [Drive] and US 35, the driver traveled across all lanes of traffic and struck, head-on, a Trotwood police cruiser, and a Montgomery County Sheriff's deputy's vehicle, which was traveling eastbound,' Wilson revealed.
'The [suspect] struck both of them,' he stated, an assertion that supported by the aforementioned witness video as well as several other clips of the moment of impact captured by horrified motorists
As the clips all indicate, 'Multiple shots were fired by police at that time,' Wilson explained.
He then revealed how following the gun battle - captured though the sound of consecutive 'pop-pops' in the witness clips - the suspect was subdued and transported to a local area hospital.
'The Trotwood officer who was in the cruiser,' he added, 'was taken out of vehicle and transported to a local area hospital as well.' The female victim was also hosptialized. All are expected to recover
In an attempt to avoid this, Wilson revealed, 'an attempt to stop the vehicle was made' - leading the suspect to '[make] a U-turn at Abbey [Avenue] and US 35' so that he was now heading back westbound, Wilson said.
That's when the perpetrator 'began firing at officers from his moving vehicle', Wilson recalled - before going on to describe how the fleeing truck eventually found itself atop one of the responding police vehicles, after crashing into another.
'At the intersection of Liscum [Drive] and US 35, the driver traveled across all lanes of traffic and struck, head-on, a Trotwood police cruiser, and a Montgomery County Sheriff's deputy's vehicle, which was traveling eastbound,' Wilson revealed.
'The [suspect] struck both of them,' he stated - in an assertion that was supported by the aforementioned witness video, as well as several others.
As the clips all indicate, 'Multiple shots were fired by police at that time,' Wilson explained.
He then revealed how following the gun battle - captured though the sound of consecutive 'pop-pops' in the witness clips - the suspect was subdued and transported to a local area hospital.
'The Trotwood officer who was in the cruiser,' he added, 'was taken out of vehicle and transported to a local area hospital as well.'
Choosing not to name the suspect or the stricken officer - both of whom suffered unspecified injuries but are expected to recover - Wilson reiterated how officers' investigation into the crash, the alleged assault that predated it, and the gun battle that followed remains 'ongoing.
Currently being conducted by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations, the probe is being bolstered by a simultaneous investigation by the Trotwood police department, which Wilson said will be conducting its own 'internal investigation.'
'That's pretty much what we have,' the chief concluded Tuesday, hours after cops from his department were seen surveying the unthinkable wreck.
Following an hours-long investigation, the stretch of U.S. 35 affected by the incident reopened around 8 pm.
In the incident's aftermath, a woman who witnessed the crash and shooting told WHIO TV 7 how she had been traumatized when the chase suddenly came to an end in front of her, sparking worries she was about to get caught up in the middle of it all.
'I was shaking for about two hours, honestly,' she said, only providing her first name Suzanne to the station. 'It was a horrific thing to see.'
The woman hit by the pickup, meanwhile, was also not identified, but was also was taken to a local hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, police said.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the Trotwood police department for an update.
References
- ^ Alex Hammer For Dailymail.Com (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Ohio (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ witnessed the chase (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ interrupted by the fleeing suspect (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ swerved into oncoming traffic. (www.dailymail.co.uk)