Wednesday, March 14, 2001
The chase covered about 16 miles, at times reaching speeds of 100 mph.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
FARRELL, Pa. -- Two men face multiple charges after a high-speed chase through parts of Brookfield, Sharon, Hermitage and Farrell before coming to a crashing halt in Wheatland, police say.
Matthew Henry, 21, of Dutch Lane, Hermitage, and Joshua Yost, 19, of McClure Ave., Sharon, were arrested moments after their fleeing car clipped the front of a station wagon and slammed into the rear of a sedan at Mercer and Broadway avenues shortly before 2 p.m. Friday, police said.
They were to be arraigned on several charges this morning before District Justice Ruth French.
They were being tailed by nearly a dozen police cars from several jurisdictions at speeds that reached 100 mph. The chase covered about 16 miles, authorities said.
Burglary call: The chase began when a Trumbull County deputy sheriff responded to call about a burglary in progress on Bradley-Brownlee Road in Vernon Township and followed the two south on Ohio Route 7.
They were able to avoid a set of road spikes put out by Brookfield Township police near Warren-Sharon Road, and the pursuit crossed into Sharon at Davis Street.
From there, Henry, who police say was driving, led a line of wailing cruisers through downtown along Connelly Boulevard at high speed.
The car got on the Shenango Valley Freeway and traveled east into Hermitage, then south on Buhl Farm Drive and west on Mercer Avenue through Farrell and into Wheatland.
Police said the car tried to run a red light at Mercer and Broadway avenues but clipped the right front of a Volvo driven by Bill Emery of Stowe, Ohio, then slammed into the rear of an Oldsmobile containing a man and a woman, whose names have not been released.
The impact caused the Oldsmobile to flip onto its roof, while Henry's disabled car came to rest against the curb.
The man and woman crawled from the overturned wreckage. Police said they didn't appear to be seriously injured but were taken to Sharon Regional Health System.
A Hartford police officer who was the first in the line of pursuit quickly took Henry and Yost into custody. Unhurt, they were taken away in handcuffs to the Southwest Mercer County police station in Farrell.
Emery and a passenger in his car, Rosalyn Jamal of Youngstown, both Federal Express employees, were on their way to visit a client on Church Street and were just about to turn onto Mercer Avenue when the fleeing car hit their car and spun it around.
They were not injured.
Police said items found in the fleeing car after the crash are believed to be stolen.
Henry and Yost are charged with being fugitives from justice, receiving stolen property and criminal conspiracy.
Henry is also charged with driving under license suspension, fleeing and eluding, reckless driving, traffic signal violations and failure to render aid and give information at an accident.