AUSTINTOWN Police arrest county inmate after car chase

Two unloaded guns were behind the driver's seat of the van the inmate stole .
By IAN HILL
and JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITERS
AUSTINTOWN -- A county inmate escaped from custody after a county court hearing Monday, stole a van that contained two guns, and led police on a chase, slamming into a passenger car and a police car and injuring one officer.
Ronald L. Simpson III, 19, of New Road, told police he had unlocked leg irons with a piece of metal he found in the court holding cell, police reports show. He was not handcuffed.
The Mahoning County Sheriff's Department charged Simpson with escape, theft of a motor vehicle, failure to comply with the order of a police officer and two counts of aggravated vehicular assault. Austintown police plan to meet with deputy sheriffs today to discuss further charges.
Leaving county court: The episode began about 4:55 p.m. when three deputies at the court on Mahoning Avenue at the rear of the Austintown Plaza began to load 10 county jail inmates into an inmate transport van, police report. The inmates had been at the court for appearances and were to be returned to the jail. Simpson had appeared on domestic violence charges.
Outside, Simpson bent down and removed his shoes and leg irons and ran toward the front of the Austintown Plaza where he entered a white Chevrolet van parked in front of Ames department store.
Police said the van owner, a 28-year-old Leetonia man, was a carpet installer in the process of unloading materials for a job at the Optiview Vision Center in the plaza. He had left the keys in the van as he worked.
A 12-gauge shotgun and .22-caliber rifle were in the van behind the driver seat, according to police reports. They were unloaded.
Simpson drove at a high rate of speed west on Mahoning Avenue. Austintown police began the chase after a local attorney called to say Simpson was on South Turner Road.
During the chase Simpson struck a cruiser twice. The officer driving was not injured.
The van was clocked at 75 mph during the pursuit.
A few minutes after the chase began, Simpson struck a cruiser driven by Austintown officer Mark Ensign and a gray Saturn driven by a 27-year-old Canfield woman near the Darbyshire Drive intersection.
The van then slowly rolled onto rocks off the corner of the road. Austintown officers arrested Simpson there.
Metal found: He was transported to the county jail, where deputies found a 5-inch metal piece in the waistband of his pants and three safety pins inside his right sock.
Simpson told deputies he had found the metal in the holding cell of the Austintown court and used it to unlock the leg shackles. He said the pins had been on the inside hem of his pants when he entered the jail Thursday.
Deputies discovered that the metal piece had been removed from a mop wringer that had been left in the court holding cell.
Ensign was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center, where he was treated for minor injuries to his shoulder, neck and back. The driver of the Saturn was uninjured.
Township police, the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the sheriff's office are investigating. Maj. Michael Budd of the sheriff's office said the department also is conducting an internal investigation into the matter.
Simpson's previous criminal record includes a July 2001 conviction for aggravated burglary and more recent burglary and drug arrests.