Suspect in pursuit says passenger forced him to drive
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Reports said a man being chased by police late Monday told officers a passenger who jumped out of his car forced him to drive away.
Laquame Knox, 22, of Hyatt Avenue in Campbell is in the Mahoning County jail on a charge of fleeing and eluding after he was arrested about 10:30 p.m. Monday at West Princeton and Utilis avenues. He is expected to be arraigned in municipal court today.
Knox also could be heading back to prison on a probation violation. In January, he was granted early release from an 18-month sentence he was given in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on a charge of attempted felonious assault. He was one of three men who pleaded guilty to a May 2015 attack on a witness in a murder trial at the witness’ home on South Forest Avenue.
Court records show he was eligible for three years’ parole in that case, but the records do not make clear if he was placed on probation when he was granted early release.
Reports said an officer on patrol tried to pull over a car at Glenwood and Parkview avenues for failing to use a turn signal. The car stopped, and the officer got out of his cruiser, but the car sped up and drove away as the officer was walking toward it.
Police gave chase, and on Sherwood Avenue, a man wearing a heavy winter coat jumped out of the passenger seat and ran away, reports said. Officers continued chasing Knox, who stopped at West Princeton and Utilis. Officers approached the car at gunpoint and ordered him to throw his keys out the window, which he did, reports said.
Knox told police the passenger who jumped out of the passenger’s seat was someone he knew from a while back and had met at a nearby gas station. Reports said Knox told police that when they tried to pull him over, the passenger pulled two guns and told him if he stopped he would be killed.
Knox is in the Mahoning County jail awaiting his arraignment in municipal court today.