Tuesday, May 19, 2015
By ROBERT CONNELLY
and ed runyan
WARREN
Alexander Rood of Yorktown Lane in Austintown spent his 23rd birthday being chased by police Saturday afternoon in Mahoning and Trumbull counties, then the rest of the weekend in the Trumbull County Jail.
Felony and misdemeanor charges are pending among several departments that were involved in the chase in both counties, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said.
According to Austintown police reports, Rood is believed to have entered his father’s home on Yorktown Lane on Friday and taken two flatscreen TVs and his father’s car. Rood’s father, Jeffrey, was out of town that day and told police he believed his son stole the items “due to Alexander being addicted to heroin,” a police report said.
Austintown police went to Verizon Wireless, 4744 Mahoning Ave., about 1:45 p.m. Saturday because the stolen vehicle was there.
In that police report, Alexander Rood nearly ran over his father when Jeffrey Rood and his fiance saw Alexander driving the car in Weathersfield.
At that point, Jeffrey Rood activated the Sirius XM bluelink tracker, which enabled police to get an update of his location every 40 seconds.
It later was discovered that Alexander Rood was attempting to sell a ring in the Falcon Commons Plaza that he purportedly had stolen from his father’s home, police said.
Austintown authorities were unsuccessful in blocking Rood from leaving Verizon, and the pursuit began on Mahoning Avenue. Rood went through a red light on Mahoning Avenue, where a state trooper joined the pursuit, police said. Speeds reached 80 mph on Mahoning and as much as 100 mph northbound on state Route 11.
Austintown police could not locate Rood after the Interstate 680/80 interchange but could hear a pursuit in Trumbull County on their scanners.
Sgt. Michael Wilson with the OHSP’s Southington Post said troopers from his post first were notified that the stolen stolen car was traveling west from Pennsylvania into Ohio at Interstate 80.
Troopers with the Canfield Post assisted Austintown police as the car got to Austintown, Sgt. Wilson said.
Troopers from the Southington post, village of Lords-town and Warren police picked up the chase in the Lordstown-Warren area.
The car was traveling at excessive speeds coming north on Tod Avenue and went airborne at a set of railroad tracks on Tod Avenue at Summit Street, causing the air bags to deploy when the vehicle landed, Sgt. Wilson said.
The driver, later identified as Rood, abandoned the vehicle a short distance north, near the former St. Joseph Health Center on Tod, and fled on foot, entering the Mahoning River behind the hospital.
He swam to the other side of the river at Perkins Park, but returned to the other bank when he saw officers were waiting on the Perkins Park side of the river, Sgt. Wilson said.
He was taken into custody near the former hospital about 2:30 p.m. and taken to the Trumbull County Jail.
Austintown police said officers found the ring he tried to sell and the two TVs from his father’s home when the younger Rood was apprehended.