Jan. 13—Bond was set at $85,000 on Monday for a man who allegedly stole a semi truck in Indiana and led officers on a 90-minute chase Saturday through Butler and Preble counties.
Joseph Allen Horton, 37, was arraigned in Hamilton Municipal Court on felony charges of failure to comply, a third-degree felony, receiving stolen property, a fourth-degree felony and two traffic charges, including driving under suspension. Judge Dan Gattermeyer scheduled a preliminary hearing for Friday.
According to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office report, the semi was stolen from Jefferson County, Ind. and Middletown police became involved when the semi was spotted at Oxford State and Yankee roads.
Deputies joined in the pursuit west on Ohio 73 and the suspect allegedly drove at one of the cruisers, then drove through yards and a fence in Trenton in an attempt to elude police.
Horton, who police say is the driver, continued to Preble County going through Gratis and Eaton before re-entering Butler County on Ohio 503 and eventually driving onto south U.S. 127, according to police and the BCSO.
“Defendant threw oil, several hammers and other items out the window in an attempt to strike or disable cruisers,” according to the BCSO report.
Horton drove off the road several times to avoid tire-flattening devices deployed by police, and the stop sticks were successful in flattening a left tire, but the driver pushed on into Hamilton where he drove off the road just before the Black Street Bridge, nearly hitting a residence.
Police officials in Middletown, Preble County and Trenton say charges will be filed from their municipalities.
Video shared by a witness on social media shows multiple police vehicles following a white semi cab past Couch’s grocery market on U.S. 127 in New Miami. In the video, the person filming said a headlight on the cab was not working. It was not hauling anything behind it.
The location of the end of the pursuit is close to Spooky Nook Sports Champion Mill, according to Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones, who went live on Facebook around 6 p.m. to address online chatter about the incident that many locals witnessed.
Spooky Nook was hosting a large sports event at the time the semi pursuit ended.