Two people identified Friday as residents of Napoleon were killed after the car they were in during a police pursuit turned and drove the wrong way on I-75 and crashed into a tractor-trailer rig early Thursday.
They were the second and third deaths this year resulting from a crash involving a police pursuit in Toledo.
Police have not disclosed why police initiated the traffic stop that preceded the crash.
Police Chief George Kral and Safety Director Brian Byrd were out of the office and not available to respond to questions, police and city spokesmen said.
Toledo police said officers initiated a traffic stop of two individuals in the car who then led police on a pursuit “briefly” through residential streets and onto I-75 northbound about 12:41 a.m.
At I-75 and the Alexis Road entrance ramp, the vehicle exited the expressway north of Alexis and then re-entered the expressway the wrong way, traveling south in the northbound lanes, at which point a Toledo Police Department command officer terminated the pursuit, police said. The vehicle collided with two northbound tractor-trailer rigs south of Alexis, police said.
I-75 north remained closed for several hours from Ottawa River Road to Alexis Road for crews to clear the lanes.
Both of the deceased suspects were ejected from the vehicle. Jeremy Diller, 39, was the driver, and Angela Brown, 42, the passenger, Dr. Jeffrey Hudson, a Lucas County deputy coroner, reported Thursday night. Both have the same residential address in the 100 block of Holly Hill Drive in Napoleon, according to a Toledo police traffic report. Both Diller and Brown died of multiple blunt force injuries, Dr. Hudson said.
Their vehicle was a 1999 Chevy Tahoe belonging to Lonnie Smith of Edgerton, Ohio, according to the traffic report.
The drivers of two tractor-trailers that were struck by the wrong-way vehicle were identified as Jason Butler, 24, of Bellville, Mich., and Jody Cicero, 50, of Monroe. Both received minor injuries.
According to a police traffic report, the Tahoe hit the two tractor-trailers, burst into flames, struck the center concrete barrier, and then traveled east across all lanes into a guard rail.
Lt. Paul Davis, department spokesman, said earlier this week that officers are to operate department vehicles responsibly and with due regard for the safety of the public at all times.
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 can include the time of day, presence of traffic, the likelihood of suspects’ apprehension, and the nature and seriousness of the offense, Lt. Davis said.
In a case on Feb. 28, a suspect wanted on traffic warrants led police on a late-night chase over six miles of the city and at speeds up to 110 mph for the pursuing officers, ending with a crash on Alexis Road that killed a pedestrian.
Suspect Michael Jackson, 35, of the 3500 block of Willys Parkway, is charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, failure to stop after an accident, and failure to comply.
Toledo police engaged in 171 pursuits in 2021, the most since 2004, the last year for which statistics were available, according to statistics provided by the department.
The chase of a car onto I-75 early Thursday was the 36th pursuit so far in 2022. As of the end of March in 2020, there were 25 pursuits, according to the department’s Pursuit Analysis for 2020, which is dated Jan. 31, 2021, and is found on the department’s website. The report for 2021 is still being worked on, according to Lt. Davis.
According to that report, suspects fled from police to avoid apprehension for a multitude of reasons. Traffic stops were triggered by traffic violations in 60.6 percent of instances, followed by felony violations at 13.6 percent, stolen vehicles at 10.6 percent, and finally misdemeanor violations, suspicious vehicles, and OVI violations accounting for the remaining 15.2 percent.
In 2020, there was one fatality from a pursuit, the report said. On Feb. 8, at 1:35 a.m., police pursued a vehicle driving recklessly in the downtown area and lost it. The vehicle was re-located in the area of Western Avenue and the Anthony Wayne Trail. The police unit attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver did not comply, continuing to travel at a high rate of speed. While fleeing the police unit, the vehicle passed over a rough portion of the road where railroads used to cross. The vehicle then veered left of center and struck two utility poles. The driver was pronounced dead.
The department reviewed the officers’ actions and determined they were within agency policy and that it did not appear that a change in policy or training would have produced a different outcome.
The report noted that 2020 had 132 pursuits, a 40.4 percent increase over the previous year, and the largest increase in pursuits seen over the previous six years. At the same time, the number of number of traffic stops conducted by Toledo police officers in 2020 decreased by 39.6 percent from 2019.
The department attributed the high number of pursuits to the unusual circumstances relating to the pandemic and a surge in violent crime that happened that year.
“Violent crime increased tremendously in Toledo during 2020,” the report said. It said violent crimes, which include homicides, shooting incidents, and robberies, increased by 41.1 percent from 2019 to 2020 — 1,340 violent crimes in 2019 compared to 1,891 in 2020.
“After seeing such a dramatic increase in these types of crimes, perhaps it should come as no surprise that there would also be a substantial increase in the number of vehicle pursuits (which can potentially occur while officers are looking to suppress crimes such as these),” the report noted.
First Published March 10, 2022, 12:53 p.m.
