Toledo police officers involved in a six-mile chase that exceeded 100 mph and resulted in the death of a pedestrian were justified in the pursuit, a department spokesman said Tuesday.
“Officers are to operate department vehicles responsibly and with due regard for the safety of the public at all times,” Lt. Paul Davis said. “In vehicle pursuits specifically, speeds shall not exceed those that would be described as reasonable after the consideration of environmental factors.”
The factors that influence officers’ decisions include the time of day, presence of traffic, the likelihood of suspect’s apprehension, and the nature and seriousness of the offense, Lt. Davis said.
In suspect Michael Jackson’s case, there were already warrants out for his arrest when the police first pulled him over for a traffic stop on Feb. 28.
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The warrants included driving without a license, use of headlight beams, and driving without a seat belt. After he was arrested, Mr. Jackson, 35, of the 3500 block of Willys Parkway, was charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, failure to stop after an accident, and failure to comply. All are felony charges.
“There was no need for Mr. Jackson to drive 113 mph, nor flee in the first place,” Lt. Davis continued. “Officers have a duty to apprehend fleeing suspects based on [those] factors.”
In a pursuit that lasted nearly 10 minutes by car and another three minutes on foot, Mr. Jackson reached a top speed of 113 mph, according to court documents. Lt. Davis said the officers in pursuit reached 107 mph in their cruiser.
Lt. Davis particularly noted the time of day in justifying the chase because the incident took place at midnight, there were very few other cars on the road, and no pedestrians can be seen in the dashcam footage of the event.
However, one pedestrian was struck and killed off-camera by Mr. Jackson’s vehicle.
At about 11:55 p.m. on Feb. 27, a police unit traveling east on Sylvania Ave. noticed a car with no headlights on at the intersection of Sylvania and Phillips avenues. They turned to do a traffic stop, using both lights and sirens, and the vehicle pulled over on Willys Parkway, according to a police report.
The officers approached the vehicle and asked the driver, Mr. Jackson, if he had a license. He said he did not. The officers then asked if it was suspended, and he said it was, potentially for not paying child support, according to body camera footage.
Upon identifying Mr. Jackson, the officers found his listed warrants. They approached the vehicle again and asked him to exit the vehicle. By this time, two additional officers had joined the original two at the scene. While the officers were speaking to him, Mr. Jackson fled the scene. The officers returned to their vehicles to pursue.
After a chase that spanned six miles and a dozen city streets, Mr. Jackson briefly stopped his vehicle on the sidewalk in a cul-de-sac off Saddlewood Drive. Once the police vehicle began to stop, Mr. Jackson took off again, driving on three more streets until the unit lost him at Talmadge Road.
Twice during the original chase, Mr. Jackson drove his vehicle in the oncoming traffic lines of four-lane roadways — once on Willys Parkway, and once on Alexis Road.
When the police approached Woodside, they noticed that a portion of Alexis Road was blocked off by Toledo Edison employees, who were repairing a downed utility pole. The pole, located at the corner of Alexis and Ginger Tree Lane, was felled about 24 hours before when an elderly driver lost control of his vehicle.
After losing track of Mr. Jackson, the original police car was rear-ended by a following unit. After checking on each other, the officers proceeded on foot, asking several Toledo Edison workers which way the suspect had gone.
Less than a minute after they began running, the officers discovered Mr. Jackson’s vehicle, abandoned and flipped upside-down on the side of the road, as seen on body camera footage.
Mr. Jackson had driven into the work zone, which was marked by signs on Woodside Trail, and struck a utility truck driven by Devin Hoellrich, 26, of New Bavaria, Ohio at 12:04 a.m. Mr. Jackson’s vehicle then rolled over and slid into Mohamed Souare, 35, of Harrisburg, N.C.
Mr. Souare, a truck driver for Penske who was waiting on foot for the road to reopen, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Mr. Jackson’s vehicle then struck a utility pole. He then exited the vehicle to flee on foot.
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One Toledo Edison employee notified police that Mr. Jackson had jumped into a semitruck in an attempt to flee, the same semitruck that Mr. Souare drove for work.
One Toledo police officer approached the semi with his firearm drawn, after which Mr. Jackson got out and continued to flee on foot west on Alexis. Officers pursued him for several minutes, all while ordering him to get on the ground.
Mr. Jackson had begun walking backward away from the officers when a second officer tried twice to deploy his Taser, both unsuccessfully. As Mr. Jackson continued fleeing, the first officer deployed his Taser successfully, rendering Mr. Jackson incapacitated.
Mr. Jackson was arrested at Alexis and Flanders at about 12:08 a.m. and taken into custody. He was later transported to a local hospital, from which he has since been released. He is in the Lucas County jail, according to police.
When other police vehicles arrived at the scene, the first two officers were notified that there was an unconscious male near the crash scene. The man was deceased, with no ID on him. The officers later found his license in the semitruck, identifying him as the driver.
Mr. Jackson’s arraignment took place on March 1, and he was indicted by a Lucas County grand jury Tuesday on all three counts.
Lt. Davis explained that the Toledo Police Department’s pursuit policy is in compliance with the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, as well as the Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board. Both organizations recognize the high risk posed to officers and the community by vehicle pursuits, and therefore require explicit policies for such pursuits.
First Published March 9, 2022, 2:00 p.m.
