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Man who led police on chase sentenced to 42 years in prison

Officer struck, injured by another officer's vehicle during chase.

Thomas Joyce, 33, of West Union, was sentenced Friday, Nov. 13, to 42 years in prison by Butler County Common Pleas Court Judge Keith Spaeth. He appears here in April in Butler County Area III Court in West Chester for his arraignment. Staff photo by Nick Daggy

Nick Daggy Thomas Joyce, 33, of West Union, was sentenced Friday, Nov. 13, to 42 years in prison by Butler County Common Pleas Court Judge Keith Spaeth. He appears here in April in Butler County Area III Court in West Chester for his arraignment. Staff photo by Nick Daggy

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By Dave Greber, Staff Writer Updated 11:28 AM Friday, November 13, 2009

The man who led police on a high-speed chase last spring that caused a West Chester Twp. officer to strike another officer with his SUV was sentenced Friday, Nov. 13, to 42 years in prison.

Thomas Joyce, now 33, of West Union, was indicted in June on 15 charges — one count each of robbery, operating a vehicle under the influence, aggravated vehicular assault and vehicular assault, two counts of failure to comply with an officer’s order and nine counts of aggravated possession of drugs.

Two more charges from robberies Joyce committed on Nov. 4 and Nov. 24, 2008, in West Chester were added later, according to the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office. He pleaded guilty to all charges on Sept. 24.

The vehicular assault charges stemmed from Joyce’s connection to the injury of Lockland police officer Brandon Gehring, who was struck by a West Chester Twp. police vehicle driven by Kevin Burger.

Joyce appeared Friday, shackled at the waist before Butler County Common Pleas Court Judge Keith M. Spaeth.

Before Spaeth handed down the sentence, Joyce apologized to the court for his actions last spring. He then turned to Gehring and Burger and apologized to them.

“I never meant to hurt anyone,” Gehring said in a weak voice. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I thought I was going to die, that’s how bad the withdrawal was. I’m the one who let the drugs control my life.”

Burger was driving the lead car in the chase that began after the Joyce robbed the Walgreens on Cincinnati-Dayton Road during the early morning hours of April 20 of tens of thousands of dollars worth of pain medication.

Janetta Byess, of Manchester, Ohio, told Spaeth she never realized how bad her boyfriend’s addiction to pain medication was.

“Thomas has not always been this way,” Byess said, starting to cry. “After the doctor gave him medication he became a completely different person right away.

“But I still love him,” she added as Joyce began to shake and wipe his eyes. “This addiction was and is ugly.”

As officers pursued Joyce southbound on Interstate 75, Burger requested assistance from other police departments. However, he was never informed whether his request had been fulfilled as the various police departments involved in the chase could not communicate because their radio systems were different.

As the chase approached the Shepherd Lane exit off I-75, reaching speeds close to 80 mph, Burger’s SUV struck Gehring as he was laying down stop sticks in a effort to slow Joyce’s vehicle.

Gehring, then 23, was taken to University Hospital, where he remained in critical condition for several days. He was released from The Drake Center in May, and began working the streets of Lockland again last month following several weeks of desk duty.

After the hearing, Gehring said he was pleased with Spaeth’s ruling.

“I’m glad that Thomas Joyce will have a chance to think about what he’s done for 42 long years,” Gehring said. “He’s changed my life, my family’s life, along with officer Burger’s life and his family’s life.

“I just hope that when he finally gets out, he doesn’t have the chance to do this to anyone else’s family.”

Burger declined to comment.

An internal investigation by the West Chester Twp. Police Department showed events were further complicated by the different communication systems the various agencies involved in the pursuit were using as the chase moved from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

The internal investigation revealed the final seconds before Burger hit Gehring.

“... (A)nd probably right when I was about to get even with him (Joyce), all of the sudden ... he jackknives to the left, like harder than any he did before, he just cuts it super hard to the left,” according to a transcript of Burger’s interview with West Chester investigators.

“I see StopSticks fly up in the air like 10 or 15 feet in the air and then I see Brandon in the slow speed lane in front of me and I’m going right at him beeline.

“And I could see him bounce off my car and then, soon as I knew, I hit a freakin’ cop. And I pulled over as fast as I can ...”

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2112 or dgreber@coxohio.com.

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