Fallsnewspress.com - Barberton teen caught after fleeing police in stolen car

Cuyahoga Falls -- A 17-year-old Barberton boy was arrested July 21 and charged with motor vehicle theft, fleeing police, and OVI after he reportedly stole an Akron woman's car from an address on Ninth Street.

After refusing to stop for a Falls officer who saw him go through a stop sign shortly after 3 a.m., the boy led police on a chase, running three more stop signs and two red lights and nearly striking a police car and a pickup truck. Falls officers terminated the pursuit when speeds reached 80 miles an hour.

Akron Police took up the pursuit when the teen crossed the border, and apprehended him when he crashed into a fire hydrant. The boy was turned over to Falls police. At the Falls Police Station, the boy failed field sobriety tests and blew a .099 percent BAC (the legal limit is .08). He was released to his mother at 6 a.m.

Accidents

July 26 -- Car vs. tree. A 16-year-old Falls boy traveling south on Oakwood Drive was not injured, police say, after the car he was driving went off the right side of the road and hit a tree in front of a house in the 2700 block at 8:35 a.m. The boy was not cited, police say, because this was a single-car crash and the tree did not appear to be damaged. The car had disabling damage.

July 25 -- Two hospitalized. A head-on collision on Munroe Falls Avenue sent two Falls residents to the hospital. A 51-year-old Falls man was traveling east on Munroe Falls Avenue around 9:30 p.m., the report said, when the car he was driving went left of center 100 feet east of Shirley Ann Drive and struck a westbound car driven by a 22-year-old Falls man. The younger driver was taken to Akron City Hospital with incapacitating injuries. The older driver was taken to Summa Western Reserve Hospital with possible injuries. He was cited for driving in a no passing zone. Both cars were totaled, police said.

July 24 -- Car vs. tree II. A 57-year-old Falls man caused severe damage to the car he was driving south on Akron-Peninsula Road when he went off the right side of the road near Bolanz Road and hit a tree around 4:30 p.m. According to the report, the driver said he lost control of his vehicle when he swerved to avoid a deer in the roadway. He was cited for failure to control. The driver was taken to Akron City Hospital with non-incapacitating injuries.

Assault

July 22 -- Child injured. An Akron man reported his 3-year-old daughter sustained a skull fracture and received numerous stitches after she was hit in the head with an object, possibly a rock, while they were at the fishing pier at Gorge Park, 1160 Front St., around noon. She was taken to Akron Children's Hospital where she was treated and released. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Detective Bureau at 330-971-8334.

Theft

July 20 -- Car key taken; arrest made. A 26-year-old Akron man was arrested for theft after his grandmother, a Pierce Avenue resident, reported he took the key to her car. He never took the car, police said.

Burglary

July 20 -- Something's different... A resident of the 4200 block of Americana Drive reported someone entered her apartment between 5:30 and 6:35 p.m. and moved her furniture around but didn't take anything. There were no signs of forced entry; the victim said she may have left her key in the door.

July 19 -- Golf clubs stolen. A resident of the 900 block of Davis Avenue reported someone entered his attached garage, while it was unlocked, between 4:30 and 7:30 p.m., and took his golf bag and clubs worth an estimated $1,200. Some of the clubs were recovered and returned.

Akron Police

July 22 -- Suspect caught with goods. A 31-year-old Falls man was arrested and charged with felony theft, criminal trespass, criminal mischief and criminal tools shortly after 4 a.m. after officers were called to the 900 block of Nevin Street in Akron where parked vehicles had been entered. Police found the Falls man carrying a box of stolen items back to a stolen van that was parked at Ralph and Iredell streets. Stolen items included a cell phone, keys, a hand-held computer, a wine rack, two bottles of wine, a flashlight and a large amount of change, Akron Police said.

July 21 -- Victim chases intruder. A 19-year-old Falls man was arrested and charged with burglary after he reportedly entered an apartment in the 800 block of West Exchange Street in Akron by kicking in the back door around 3:15 p.m. July 21. The man who lived there confronted the intruder with a gun and chased him west on West Exchange Street south on Stadleman Street until the victim heard what he believed were gun shots and stopped his pursuit. When the suspect came into the Falls Police Station to pick up property from another unrelated incident, Falls Police detained him until Akron Police came and picked him up around midnight.

Editor's note: Police News is a sampling of incidents responded to by the Cuyahoga Falls and Akron police departments. It is not intended to be all inclusive.