2/6/20 Oxford, OH – Man Steals Woman’s Car From Hotel Acquaintance – Crashes Her Car Into Tree – Man Steals Oxford Police Car – Abandoned It – Went Back To Hotel – Arrested

February 6, 2020

www.journal-news.com

A man was arrested by Oxford police after a pursuit that involved him stealing a police cruiser and his discovery in a hotel room in which a woman said he had held her against her will, according to a police report.

A woman staying at the Baymont Inn on College Corner Pike reported a man she knew had taken the keys to her 2004 Ford Explorer at 5 a.m. Jan. 29. Originally, she did not want to press charges but give him more time to return the vehicle. By 2 p.m., he had not done so and she called the officer back and made a formal report.

The officer saw the vehicle a short time later in the area of Brown Road turning on to Northridge Drive. The Explorer was operated at a high rate of speed for two blocks, to Honor Lane, where it went out of control and hit a small tree and a light post. The officer pursued the suspect on foot as he ran behind a house, but he went back around the front and fled the scene in the police cruiser.

Other units were summoned to search for the suspect, while the officer at the scene looked into the Explorer and saw a handgun on the driver’s side floorboard. The gun was later determined to be a Lorcin .380 caliber semi-automatic pistol loaded with a round in the chamber.

The cruiser was found in a yard in the 5400 block of College Corner Pike but the suspect had fled the scene. The key had been snapped off in the ignition.

Officers searched the area for 45 minutes before receiving a tip that the suspect might be at the Budget Inn. They knocked on a door to one of the rooms and a woman answered. She was asked if the suspect was inside and she motioned that he was. They entered the room and took him into custody.

The remaining part of the cruiser key was in the room and a hypodermic syringe was found in his pocket. The women said the suspect had forced his way into the room and held her against her will. She said he would not let her leave, armed with a pocketknife.

The suspect was taken to the police department. He was charged with burglary, theft of a motor vehicle, improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle, obstructing official business, possession of drug abuse instruments, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and unlawful restraint. He was taken to the Butler County Jail.