Drunken Driver Takes Out Stop Sign, Fence During Short Police Chase

An Englewood Drive man was arrested on seven charges, including drunken driving, on Dec. 17 after a short pursuit by ended with the motorist running down a stop sign and a neighbor’s fence as he made his way to his own back yard.

According to police, an officer on patrol just after 1 a.m. observed a 2005 Chrysler Pacifica driving at a rate of 77 mph in a 35 mph zone on Darrow Road near Beech Road, just two blocks from the man’s home in the 3800 block of Englewood.

A short pursuit ensued, ending when the suspect, 22, drove his car into his own backyard – after he “destroyed a stop sign and a neighbor’s fence while fleeing from police,” the report stated.

Stow Police Lt. Anne Stirm said the K9 officer “Nero was released at the backyard on Englewood after seeing the driver had fled the vehicle on foot.” The man received a K9 bite on the left arm.

The police report stated the man, an unemployed landscaper, “resisted arrest and was found to be highly intoxicated.”

He was charged with drunken driving, having a blood alcohol content of .218 (the legal limit in Ohio is .08), resisting arrest, speeding, hit-skip and carrying a concealed weapon – all misdemeanors. Stirm said the carrying concealed charge came after officers found brass knuckles and a ninja kubaton with spikes inside his vehicle.

Police also charged the man with failure to comply with a law enforcement officer, also known as fleeing and alluding, which is a third-degree felony. He was taken to the Summit County Jail after processing by Stow Police.