LEWIS CENTER, Ohio — Video of a chase last week in Delaware County shows the driver of an allegedly stolen minivan speeding through the Polaris area, highways, neighborhoods and even front and back yards.
It started early in the morning of March 21 in the area of Polaris Parkway and Gemini Place. Troopers tried to stop a 2022 Chrysler Pacifica that was reported stolen in Euclid, Ohio.
WATCH: Playlist of dash camera, body camera, and aviation video.
Dash camera video shows that the driver initially came to a stop along Sancus Blvd., near Kroger. A trooper got out of his cruiser and immediately ordered the driver to turn the car off. Within 10 seconds, the car sped off.
The pursuit wend down Sancus Blvd., with the driver often traveling in the wrong lane. The driver then turned onto Whitewater Blvd., then Granby Meadows Drive. The chase then took troopers west on Park Road, followed by a quick turn north onto Storrow Drive.
The driver then made some quick turns into a residential neighborhood. Troopers were prepared for a foot chase when the driver turned down a dead-end street, Oakwind Court, but the driver avoided troopers by driving through yards and over the sidewalk.
At that point, the driver of the minivan turned off his lights and tried to lose the state patrol troopers in other nearby neighborhoods. Troopers caught up to the minivan on Campusview Blvd, where the driver ran a red light turning onto U.S. 23.
The suspect then got into I-270 East, then I-71 North, and back off the highway at Polaris Parkway. He then turned east onto Polaris Parkway, south on Orion Pl., then south on Worthington Road.
Speeds on Worthington Road exceeded 70mph, with the suspect’s lights still off. The suspect then went through the parking lot of the CVS store on Worthington Galena Road, pulling out suddenly onto Park Road.
The suspect was eventually back onto Granby Meadows, followed once again by Storrow Drive. He pulled into Oakwind Court once again, and eluded officers another time by driving through yards.
The driver then got back into Granby Meadows, and tried to elude officers by driving through the back yard of several homes, behind the fences against a wooded area. After getting back onto Park, troopers on the ground backed off the chase and let the aviation unit track the suspect.
An aircraft tracked the suspect as he drove through a wooded area in an apartment complex on Quail Valley Ct. He got out of the car and ran across three sets of railroad tracks. With the assistance of the aviation unit, the suspect was located hiding behind a home on Charmel Pl.
The driver, identified as 21-year-old Donay E. Johnson, was arrested and initially charged with receiving stolen property. On Thursday, March 30, Johnson was indicted on charges of failure to comply with a signal or order of police, receiving stolen property and tampering with evidence. He is being held on a $100k bond.
Johnson is also wanted in Cuyahoga County for failing to appear for a sentencing hearing after pleading guilty to fleeing and eluding charges from two different police chases in Parma and Cleveland Heights.