WILLOUGHBY, Ohio — Early Monday morning Eastlake police tried to stop a driver for speeding. The driver took off leading police on a chase.
After Eastlake police called off the chase, a Willoughby police officer spotted the car getting onto Lost Nation Road. The driver was going the wrong way on the ramp according to Willoughby Police Det. Lt. John Begovic. “It is a busy road even though it was 1:45 in the morning,” said Begovic.
Willoughby police picked up the now low-speed pursuit with a top speed of 50 miles per hour. The driver led police on an eight-mile chase around Willoughby. As police attempted to put down spike strips, what happened next surprised even the most seasoned police officers.
The car slows, the 25-year-old Cleveland man gets out of the car, hops over the safety wall, and jumps into the Chagrin River below. “We don’t believe he knew it was a river from his reaction when he jumps over. I think he’s very surprised and startled that he’s not going to be landing on solid ground,” explained Begovic.
Police said the water was only about a foot high, when they didn’t spot the man, they called out the dive and drone teams. Before they could arrive, police found the man hiding in some bushes.
But police soon discovered something was missing. “One of the officers began looking at the dashcam footage he noticed that when he jumped into the river, he had a black satchel bag across his chest. When they arrested him, he did not have that satchel bag,” said Begovic.
Police found the bag in the river and inside a loaded gun, extra bullets, and money. The serial number had been removed from the gun police said.
“Given the circumstances, there is a good probability that the gun was used in another crime,” Begovic said.
Police said the man had several active warrants, he was driving a stolen car with a suspended license, and he also had previous convictions. He now faces a list of charges in connection to this incident.
Now, police are trying to find out if he is connected to other crimes. “We’ve reached out to other agencies, sent out a BOLO, pictures of the car, pictures of the gun to see if they might have had something late Sunday night or early Monday morning,” said Begovic.
The car has a broken window, police said it looks like a bullet hole and the front bumper was damaged before the chase started so they suspect the car was involved in another crime. “This could lead to something bigger and that’s what we’re going to be investigating,” said Begovic.
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