Search on for man who ran from police custody

NEW MIDDLETOWN

Police are hunting a man they say helped another man escape from police Thursday evening.

Officers are looking for Carl Fisher, no age given, who is said to be armed, after he crashed a stolen pickup truck in a drainage ditch on state Route 170.

Also inside the truck was Brandon Bennett, 30, of Liberty, who had escaped police custody a short time before the wreck. He was arrested and taken to the Mahoning County jail. Charges are expected to be filed against him today in Struthers Municipal Court.

Police Chief Vindent D’Egido said that an officer was called about 5:10 p.m. to the Camelot Mobile Home trailer park just north of state Route 170 for a complaint of intoxicated people shooting off fireworks. As the officer was talking to Bennett, Bennett suddenly ran. He was caught a short time later, cuffed, and put in the back of a police car.

D’Edigo said Bennett was somehow able to climb out of a partition in the back seat of the car and jump out the window and run away into a truck that Fisher had stolen. They found the truck and chased it until it crashed.

Bennett ran away on foot and was caught a short time later. Fisher could not be found. Officers from nine different departments and a helicopter from the Ohio State Highway Patrol were also brought in to help find him.

Springfield Local schools delayed the start of school for two hours this morning because of darkness in the area when school starts, D’Egido said.