Two police chases, two car crashes, and a foot pursuit that left a PPD officer feeling like a hobo. Plus, two dogs on opposite sides of the law. It’s all part of a wild high-speed car chase involving Portsmouth Police on late Tuesday night. We’ve got the insane details and audio of the pursuit as it happened. We’ve got video and scanner audio to check out. Here’s how it went down:
The Chase Begins
Just after 11 pm, officers were notified that the Ohio State Patrol were pursuing a suspect and about to hit the Portsmouth City limits. We now know that Zachary Taylor, 36, of Baltimore, Ohio was driving. His passenger was Chase Huffer, 33, of Thurston.
Troopers and Scioto County Sheriff’s deputies chased the suspects:
- South on Argonne
- East onto Kinney’s Lane
- South onto Waller
- East on Gallia
Still Going
PPD Officers Paul Lancaster and Amy Glockner joined in the chase just before officers attempted to intercept the truck at the Roy Rogers Esplanade.
The suspect went through the PNC Bank parking lot and nearly rammed into Officer Lancaster’s vehicle. He then headed:
- West onto Gallia
- North on Clay
- East on Route 52
SCDN’s Nikki Blankenship took this video of the chase in progress.
Taylor ran the red light at Young Street going over 70 miles an hour. He then went East on Walnut and then turned left to get back onto the westbound side of Gallia. By that point, he’d slowed down a bit to 50 mph.
Officer Newman deployed spikes in the left lane of Gallia near Kendall. When Taylor spotted the spikes, he turned into a parking lot of Livingston Metals and then attempted to drive over a dirt hill. Taylor slammed into an OSHP vehicle, taking both the truck and the trooper’s vehicle out of commission
Now For A Foot Chase
Taylor wasn’t ready to give up yet. He then took off on foot, running behind the McDonald’s and crossing onto the railroad tracks.
Officer Glockner saw the passenger Chase Huffer getting out of the vehicle and ordered him to the ground at gunpoint. She handcuffed Huffer and put him in a patrol car. Huffer was held at the Scioto County Jail without bond until another police agency came to get him.
In addition to being poor drivers and bad citizens, these two are terrible pet owners. They left a dog in the truck. Officers called for Animal Control to take the pup into protective custody.
Trooper Keating, Officer Croasmun, and Officer Paul Lancaster chased after Taylor into the rail yard. Officer Queen also arrived with K-9 Sita to assist in the search.
Two officers were hurt during search. Trooper Keating fell over a guard wire and took a tumble. Officer Queen suffered a knee injury climbing between rail cars.
Officer Lancaster searched the rail yard climbing into cars to check for the suspect. He said he felt like an early 1950s drifter.
One More Car Chase
Despite their search efforts, law enforcement officers were unable to locate Taylor that night. However, according to OSHP, Taylor made himself easy to find.
The next day, Taylor stole a car in Portsmouth, He took off to Ross County where Troopers chased him down once again. And once again, he crashed the car.
But this time he didn’t get away. He’s sitting in the Ross County Jail without bond charged with receiving Stolen Property and failing to comply with an order from a police officer. You can listen to scanner audio of the pursuit by clicking below.