Cruiser rammed, shots fired during police chase in Niles

 Officers from several police departments are looking for white male who fled from a stolen commercial truck after ramming cruisers during a pursuit early Thursday.

According to Niles police, the suspect dumped a stolen commercial vehicle from Weathersfield Township at Trumbull Metal Inc. before stealing a Ford F550 commercial truck from that business located at 643 Henry Street.

The theft is believed to be connected to the string of vehicle thefts in the area.

DR Landscaping & Excavating says two of their trucks were stolen on November 27, one of them was recovered at Trumbull Metal, where the suspect dumped the DR Landscaping truck and stole the F550 from Trumbull Metal. The other truck has not been recovered.

The citywide license plate reader system reported the truck stolen at 4:15 a.m. Shortly after, the Shift Captain attempted a traffic stop, but the driver fled and the police chase began around 4:25 a.m.

Several cruisers joined the chase through the city for about fifteen minutes, with officers reporting that the truck was trying to ram the cruisers.

The suspect stopped on Walnut Street and "actively and purposefully" rammed the Captain's marked cruiser, then hit a marked cruiser on Spring Street, then hit the Captain's cruiser again on another road.

Eventually, the commercial truck turned onto an abandoned railroad bed off Summit Avenue, attempting to escape on the Honda Hills trail system near McKinley Heights.

The twice-hit cruiser was behind the stolen truck on the railroad bed. The passenger inside the cruiser fired shots as the suspect attempted to ram them again, and the suspect drove off. Though he didn't go far, because he stopped later, reversed, and hit it again, deploying all airbags inside and disabling the cruiser.

"In a situation where they were stuck in the narrow road that they were on in the pursuit and had no possible point of escape--that's definitely where it became a lethal force situation.", said Captain Detective John Marshall.

As the cruiser was towed from the woods, 21 News saw bullet holes in the windshield and damage to the bumper.

Captain Detective John Marshall tells 21 News that the cruiser, which was one of the newer vehicles in the fleet will most likely be totaled, while others sustained heavy damage.  

An officer from McDonald found the stolen truck abandoned less than a mile from the shooting. It appears the suspect was not injured in the shooting.

Three Niles Police Officers are on administrative leave following the officer involved shooting.

The investigation will continue with the possible DNA evidence that was processed.

Captain Marshall says aside from charges of receiving stolen property and failure to comply, they'll look into attempted murder charges for intentional ramming of police units.

Officers searched near the dead end of Carnegie Avenue around 6 a.m., and a 4-wheeler was towed from a trail off Summit Avenue around 7:30 a.m.

21 News is working to find out if the 4-wheeler is connected to the chase investigation.

Sheriff's deputies as well as officers from Austintown, Weathersfield, and McDonald joined the search.

There have been no reports of serious injuries.