“Officers were pursuing a stolen vehicle after it struck an officer,” said Dayton police Public Information Specialist James Rider. “The vehicle crashed at the intersection of Germantown (Pike) and (South) Gettysburg (Avenue).”
Rider said that just before 1:15 p.m., officers were dispatched to the bus station at 122 Elmhurst Road on a report of a stolen vehicle. Officers found the stolen car in the parking lot of the McDonald’s at 1219 N. Gettysburg Ave., which fled after the suspects saw police.
One officer was able to deploy stop sticks before the car fled that deflated one tire, Rider said.
Police found the stolen car again in the 1700 block of W. Second Street and tried to pull it over, but again the car fled, hitting an unmarked police vehicle and making an officer move to keep from being hit, Rider said.
“The car then intentionally accelerated toward an officer out on foot, who took evasive actions but was still struck by the vehicle and narrowly avoided a more serious injury or life-threatening injury,” Rider said.
Police pursued the vehicle, which stopped about four minutes later when the car crashed into another at the intersection of Germantown and Gettysburg then hit a pole, flipping over onto its top and catching on fire.
Body and cruiser camera footage shows officers remove two people from the car while others use fire extinguishers to try to put out the smoking vehicle.
Rider said that both suspects were 16-year-old boys and were taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
He said the driver was charged with two counts of felonious assault along with failure to comply, grand theft, vehicular assault and vandalism, while the passenger was charged with grand theft.
The intersection of Germantown Pike and South Gettysburg Avenue was closed as crews investigated. A burned vehicle on its top could be seen nearby.
The Dayton Police Department Traffic Services Unit, Professional Standards Bureau and criminal investigators are handling the investigation.
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