Police-Involved Shooting Ends A High-Speed Chase In Ohio

Strongsville, OH, 7 March, 2017 - Speeds reached 100 miles per hour during a police chase that ended with a Strongsville police officer shooting and killing a suspect on I-71 in Medina County Tuesday morning.

Relatives identified the suspect as Roy Evans, Jr., 37, and said he was driving a van with his girlfriend and three children inside.

According to a Strongsville Police Department call log, an officer tried to stop the van on I-71 Northbound near the turnpike at 2:26 a.m. when the driver fled, exiting at Pearl Road before immediately re-entering the highway in the southbound direction.

Officers reported the van's engine was smoking and that Evans rammed a police cruiser at mile marker 228.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol deployed spike strips at 2:36 a.m.

According to the log, the van slowed and an officer reported that Evans was reaching around in the van, lighting a cigarette.

A minute later, at 2:40 a.m., shots were fired near mile marker 220, about 16 miles from where the chase began.

Investigators from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation said a Strongsville officer shot Evans at least once, killing him.

His girlfriend and three children were unharmed, and no officers were injured.

BCI investigators were looking into what prompted the officer to shoot and whether or not the suspect was armed, according to a spokesperson.

BCI said two Strongsville Police cruisers were damaged in the chase, and investigators planned to process the van Wednesday.

Evans has a lengthy criminal record that includes running from police in the past.

He was released from prison in September, following a nearly two year term following a 2014 arrest for attempted murder and felonious assault in Lorain County.

Court records show Evans struck a plea deal, pleading guilty to two counts of felonious assault, with the attempted murder charge being dismissed.

In 2004, Evans was sentenced to six months in prison after pleading guilty to charges of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, failure to comply and criminal damaging, following an incident in which he bailed out of a moving van and ran from police.

In 2003, Evans pleaded guilty for attempted failure to comply, DUI, vehicular assault and reckless operation and was sentenced to two years in prison.

Other previous charges include breaking and entering, grand theft, receiving stolen property, attempted felonious assault, obstructing official business, and driving with a suspended license.