Video shows miles-long chase that ended with crash at Cooper Stadium
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Columbus police have released dash camera footage from a chase that spanned two cities before ending at a former stadium.
The incident began with Whitehall police getting a report of a car theft in progress Tuesday afternoon. Cameras alerted Whitehall police that the car had been taken in an aggravated robbery, and the agency requested help from Columbus officers.
The suspects led Columbus police on a chase with the initial stolen car and then got out and stole another vehicle, according to a dispatcher.
The dashcam video that police shared begins mid-chase, with two squad cars tailing the stolen vehicle from Clime Road onto Delorest at an intersection. The stolen car took a detour through a parking lot, and one of the police cars rammed it as it got back onto the main road.
The stolen car's driver straightened his vehicle out and kept driving.The video showed police ramming his car again, and sending it swerving left, unintentionally making the car miss spike strips another officer threw into the road.
The stolen car briefly stopped before driving on, with more officers following it. The suspects turned onto Eakin Road and continued speeding through a neighborhood. Eventually, they and the pursuing officers ran into a construction zone, hitting cones but continuing forward.
By the time the group left the neighborhood, the stolen car had a sizable lead ahead of Columbus police. They eventually caught up, however, and by that point, the suspects turned onto a road leading to Cooper Stadium. The video captured an officer ramming the back of the stolen car, and sent it crashing into a tree at the next-door cemetery.
Another officer's car rammed into the back of the car, holding it in place. Columbus police surrounded the suspects with guns drawn as they got out of the car.
A police dispatcher said that three cruisers were hit by the suspects — two at Franklin Heights High School and one head-on at the intersection of Clime Road and River Bend Road. A fourth cruiser ran into something during the chase, but was not hit by the suspects.