Suspect flees cruiser jumps off bridge

Associated Press

DAYTON

A burglary suspect traveling in a police cruiser in western Ohio used his head to break a window and escape on a bridge, then jumped to his death, authorities said.

The officer transporting the suspect to jail Saturday night pulled over after the man began banging his head on a rear window, Dayton police Lt. Kim Hill told the Dayton Daily News. The suspect went head-first out the window and dove off the bridge, Hill said.

“In 22 years, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Hill said.

Part of the bridge crosses the Great Miami River, but police say the man fell several stories onto a flat, rocky area. He later was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Crime-scene and internal- affairs investigators responded to the scene, and Hill said there will be a full investigation into what happened.

Montgomery County coroner’s investigator, Jim Glaser, identified the suspect as 20-year-old Kaylen English of Dayton. An autopsy was done Sunday, but Glaser said he could not immediately disclose the results, including whether alcohol or drugs were factors in the incident.

Online municipal and county court records listed no cases under English’s name.

A 16-year-old girl who identified herself as English’s girlfriend told the newspaper he had been living “house to house” and most recently stayed with his grandmother. She said she didn’t know why he was taken into custody.