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Ramos rejects plea in chase, manhunt case
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A man who led authorities on a manhunt in April after a long chase where he was accused of ramming police cruisers and shooting at several officers refused an offer to take a guilty plea in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to several charges.
Judge John Durkin instead will set a final pretrial date to be determined for Luis Cruz Ramos, 31, of Puerto Rico.
Ramos is accused of leading police on a chase in late March from Campbell to Boardman and back and firing shots at officers from Boardman, Campbell and Youngstown before abandoning his van on Interstate 680 next to a Boardman cemetery.
He eluded police until April 1, when he was wounded on a South Side street after pulling a gun on U.S. Marshals trying to catch him.
The chase began when Campbell police tried to arrest him on a warrant.
Ramos already is serving a 21-year federal prison sentence for charges relating to the manhunt and chase.
Under the offer from the county prosecutor’s office, Ramos would have to serve a sentence of 19 years consecutive to his sentence in federal court, which means he would be in prison until he was at least 70.
Prosecutors are recommending a minimum sentence of 40 years, but there is no agreed-upon sentence in the case.
Ramos balked at the sentence when his lawyer went over the plea with him, saying it was akin to a life sentence.
During the initial chase, Ramos is accused of firing several shots at Youngstown police officers trying to place stop sticks to puncture the tires on his van, and he damaged two cruisers.