Man jailed after chase in city, twp.
A 59-year-old Jefferson Township man was arrested following a police chase in Butler that ended late Monday night when he allegedly struck a city cruiser in Butler Township.
James R. Parker Jr. is in the Butler County Prison on felony fleeing and other charges. No one was injured.
The incident began when a Butler officer noticed a Chevrolet Impala traveling without headlights on the 500 block of West Jefferson Street, police said.
The driver pulled over on Pillow Street and stopped. But as the officer was getting out of his cruiser, the suspect took off.
He turned onto Hansen Avenue and was clocked “in excess of 70 mph,” said police Capt. Jim Hollobaugh.
The driver, later identified as Parker, passed another vehicle using the center lane as the chase made its way onto Whitestown Road and into Butler Township.
The defendant abruptly turned left onto Chesapeake Street, police said, and proceeded to run two stop signs.
The pursuit stretched into Lyndora and onto Bessemer Avenue “at an unsafe speed,” Hollobaugh said. Butler Township police joined in the call.
When Parker veered to the right moments later, police said, his car nearly overturned and traveled up an embankment.
“(He) then backed up and struck the front of the Butler City Police vehicle, causing minor damage to the center of the bumper,” according to a police report.
Parker also almost struck a township cruiser, and he then hit another vehicle that was parked along the road. He allegedly got out of his car and started to run, but a township officer quickly stopped him, police said.
A brief struggle ensued, police said, before he was arrested.
A check of his driving record, the report said, found that Parker's Ohio license was suspended. The vehicle registration was also allegedly expired.
District Judge Sue Haggerty arraigned Parker on a felony charge of fleeing or attempting to elude police and a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest.
He was also cited for four traffic violations. He's in the county jail on $25,000 bail.
