A police chase ends with the bad guys getting away and the officer's cruiser crushed. Now the search is on for the men responsible.
The chase started a little after 1 a.m. on Wednesday and went on for about six miles along I-75 in Florence. The officer was not hurt.
Local 12 news reporter Angenette Levy has more on the chase and what the thieves took. The car the thieves were driving was stolen out of Covington. Police found stolen tools and a GPS unit in it. While the men who stole all of that stuff are still on the loose, police are looking into whether they could be involved in more thefts in the area.
Florence police are looking for evidence like fingerprints in this Buick. In the early morning hours, a man at the Burlington Oaks Apartments called 911 when he saw men breaking into vehicles and loading the loot into the car. A Florence officer saw the car minutes later. Capt. Linny Cloyd: "He went to stop the vehicle, got on I-75 southbound in which a pursuit was called."
Captain Cloyd says the Buick's driver slammed on the brakes near the Richwood exit. The men bailed and ran away. The Florence officer called for back-up as a truck approached. "A third vehicle, a box truck, could not stop and ultimately hit both our police cruiser and the suspect vehicle."
The cruiser is totaled. The Florence officer did not go to the hospital. Police searched and found one man covered in mud near a truck stop. He was questioned but released. "This area is just getting hammered with thefts from vehicles, thefts from construction site. We look at it from an aggressive standpoint that this could be major players in these thefts and that's why we took the action we did."
Police found at least $7500 worth of stolen property in the car. Paul Voss, in town from Wisconsin, got his GPS back. "Being out of state, this is just wonderful not that my car was broken into, but that the perpetrator was caught right away and getting my property back right away."
Police have the name of the man who was questioned and released. He's definitely a suspect and they continue to investigate him. Police are still working to identify the other man who was in the car.
Anyone with information about the men driving the stolen car can call Florence Police, the Boone County Sheriff's Office or Crimestoppers. the number: 352-3040.
