Suspect tries to flee after chase

Staff report

AUSTINTOWN

Police investigating a report of a theft in progress wound up chasing a van along various township streets before the driver tried to flee into Youngstown, striking a utility pole on Mahoning Avenue.

Police said they got a call at 5 p.m. Saturday from an employee of Central Park West Apartments that someone in a van was stealing items from a complex maintenance shed on Woodhurst Boulevard.

Officers going to the scene spotted the van on Burkey Road near Raccoon Road and gave chase, following it around various streets until it went north on Schenley Avenue into Youngstown and then east on Mahoning where it struck a utility pole, essentially disabling the vehicle.

The driver jumped out and tried to flee but was quickly apprehended by Austintown officers who had to use a stun gun to subdue the suspect, identified only as a 54-year-old local man.

The man suffered minor injures in the crash and was treated at St. Elizabeth Health Center before being taken to the Mahoning County jail, police said.

Items stolen from the maintenance shed were found in the van, police said.