Man pleads no contest to hitting Butler Twp. cruisers with stolen truck

ajc.com

A Columbus man was found guilty of stealing a pickup truck and using it to hit multiple Butler Twp. police cruisers on Christmas Eve.

Anthony Lamar Brown, 33, will be sentenced April 27 by Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Gerald Parker after he pleaded no contest Thursday to failure to comply with an order or signal of a police officer, grand theft of a motor vehicle and vandalism, all felony charges.

Anthony Brown

Credit: Montgomery County Jail

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Credit: Montgomery County Jail

Brown was scheduled to go to trial starting Tuesday. As part of his plea, felony charges of obstructing official business and two additional counts of vandalism were dismissed.

Butler Twp. police responded around 10:45 a.m. Dec. 24 to the Days Inn in the 7400 block of Miller Lane on a report of a disorderly person. When officers arrived, a woman told them Brown threatened to kill her and was chasing her, according to an affidavit filed in Vandalia Municipal Court.

Brown reportedly had multiple warrants and a probation violation. When police found him hiding, Brown ran away and crossed Interstate 75 North, almost causing a wreck, according to the affidavit. He then stole a 1991 Dodge Dakota pickup truck parked at Knights Inn Dayton in the 7500 block of Poe Avenue nearby.

When police arrived in marked cruisers, “Anthony deliberately rammed multiple cruisers and almost struck (an officer) as well,” the affidavit stated.

Officers took Brown into custody after performing a vehicle take-down maneuver.

When he is sentenced, he faces up to a combined 2½ years in prison and up to $7,500 in fines, according to the plea document.

Brown remains held in the Montgomery County Jail.

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