Officers were called to Maxx Mart on Tytus Avenue about 5:50 p.m. on a report of a female who appeared to be dragged into a vehicle against her will, according to the Middletown police report.
When they got to the store the suspect vehicle, a white SUV, was gone, but a witness told officers what she observed. While speaking with the witness, officers saw the SUV pull onto Auburn Street.
“At that time I could see the female losing consciousness in the front passenger seat,” Officer Sheoki Reece wrote in the report.
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Reece said the driver of the vehicle, later identified as Kenneth Heaton, then drove away refusing to stop.
The vehicle was driven through the neighborhood, eventually driving at a high rate of speed onto Breiel Boulevard and then Miller Road, causing damage to crops and field there, according to the police report.
The pursuit continued into Franklin where officers there, along with the highway patrol, continued the chase.
OSP said Heaton was spotted in Miami County on I-75 near Piqua. After troopers attempted to stop Heaton, he allegedly fled the scene despite multiple attempts to use tire deflation devices, the patrol said in a release.
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As the chase approached Anna, Heaton is said to have struck a trooper’s cruiser intentionally, according to the state patrol.
Eventually the chase headed back into Sidney, where Sidney Police successfully deployed stop sticks. The suspect allegedly intentionally rammed a Shelby County deputy’s cruiser before he was arrested, the patrol said.
Heaton, 46, is charged with failure to comply with command or signal of police and felonious assault. He is housed in the Shelby County Jail on suspicion of fleeing and eluding and felonious assault with a vehicle, the patrol said. He was arraigned in Sidney Municipal Court Thursday morning, where his bond was set $50,000.
The female passenger in Heaton’s vehicle, Angela Abbott, was injured, however she was released from police custody after treatment, OSP said.
Middletown police talked with Abbott who said she and Heaton had gotten into an argument at the convenience store.
She said she was not forced into the vehicle, but when officers tried to stop the vehicle, Heaton sped up. Abbott said she begged him to stop, but he kept hitting her in the head when she spoke up, according to the police report.
Middletown police and other police agencies are considering additional charges against Heaton.
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