2 Warren officers suffer injuries during low-speed car chase

By Ed Runyan | July 10, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

Police Video: Car Chase

Charges against the driver are pending.

WARREN — Two city policemen were injured Wednesday afternoon while trying to stop an erratic driver on East Market Street who led officers on a low-speed chase.

The chase, which lasted about five minutes, ended near North Road, when Sgt. Joe O’Grady parked his cruiser in front of the vehicle driven by Tracie Peno, 35, of South Street, Warren, walked to the driver’s door of her car and tried to turn off the ignition.

Peno stepped on the gas, however, with O’Grady part way inside the driver’s door and smashed the driver’s side of her car into O’Grady’s cruiser, according to police.

In a video of the accident captured by the video camera mounted on the dash of another officer’s cruiser, it appears O’Grady tried to get the driver’s door closed as Peno’s car began to speed away, but his hip and leg were injured in the collision.

The officer who first attempted to stop Peno, Patrolman Thad Stephenson, got out of his vehicle as O’Grady stepped into Peno’s vehicle and also was slightly injured when Peno’s car was finally stopped by O’Grady just after the collision.

Both officers were treated at St. Joseph Health Center and released later Wednesday. Peno was still at the hospital late Wednesday, though officers believe she did not suffer any injuries in the collision.

Police said charges against the woman are pending.

The video, shot from Stephenson’s cruiser, shows the patrolman attempting for several minutes to get Peno to stop her car after he pulled up behind the vehicle at around 4 p.m.

It shows Peno’s car driving up on a curb and also weaving back and forth between the two eastbound lanes of East Market Street.

Her vehicle was traveling between 2 and 5 mph during the low-speed chase, Stephenson estimated.

After several minutes of using lights and sirens and yelling at Peno to stop, O’Grady stopped his cruiser a short distance in front of Peno’s and walked briskly toward her door.

The video shows the car speeding up and crashing into the side of O’Grady’s cruiser with O’Grady hanging on.

Police Chief John Mandopolous said O’Grady’s actions were courageous but he would have preferred that officers use “stop sticks,” a device that punctures the tires of a vehicle, rather than attempt to reach in through her car door.

Tests were done on Peno’s blood to determine whether she was intoxicated, but the results were not available late Wednesday.

runyan@vindy.com