An officer on patrol heading west in the 6100 block of Fairfield Road saw a vehicle traveling east at 86 mph. The officer turned around and followed the vehicle, which turned south on South Locust Street and headed toward Chestnut Street, at one point passing another vehicle on the left, over double-yellow road markings.
The vehicle then turned left on Chestnut Street without stopping for a red light and was paced at about 90 mph.
It continued to flee south on U.S. 27 and officers reached speeds of 120 mph just to keep pace. After passing through McGonigle the driver began turning his lights off and back on multiple times while traveling at a high rate of speed.
In Millville, the vehicle continued toward Ross Twp., ultimately crashing in the intersection at Ross-Hanover while attempting a left turn from U.S. 27 and driving straight into the woods.
The two pursuing officers got out of the cruisers and began searching for the vehicle, which was not visible from the road. They located the vehicle in the woods and heard a woman screaming from the car. When she got out from the back seat, she was identified and said the driver was a man named Robert “Bert” Manning. She said a male named Chris was in the passenger seat but she did know his last name, only that he goes by the nickname “Gage.”
The two men had fled the scene. The woman was checked out by Ross Fire Dept. personnel, and the Oxford K-9 officer was called to the scene. “Gage” was located in high grass about 40 yards from the vehicle. Attempts to track Manning were unsuccessful.
Gage was later identified as Christopher Gage Boggs.
The woman told police she had been at a residence in Brownsville, Ind., and looking for a ride back to Hamilton. Manning responded through Facebook Messenger and the pair came to pick her up. She said they stopped at a gas station and she went inside to get a drink.
They were on Fairfield Road when they noticed a police officer sitting in the parking lot of the Miami University Airport that pulled out after they had passed. That is when they sped up and were seen by the officer patrolling on Fairfield Road. She said she wanted Manning to stop the vehicle the whole time and was getting yelled at to quit speaking.
She said Manning and Boggs were arguing about how to get to Hamilton, since they could lose cops there and Manning told her the car was “hot.”
Boggs was found to have multiple warrants for his arrest and was taken to Fort Hamilton Hospital with one of the Oxford officers accompanying them.
Meanwhile the search of the area of the car continued and a pink/red Nike Air Jordan shoe was found in the woods. The woman confirmed Manning was wearing shoes fitting that description. She described him as in his low to mid 30s. He was last seen wearing jeans and no shirt.
The vehicle license plate came back to a dealership in Fairfield and had been reported stolen July 30.
Manning was found to have multiple license suspensions.
At approximately 6 a.m. a Ross Twp. unit responded to U.S. 27 and Hamilton-New London Road on a report of a suspicious male with no shirt. He was identified as Manning and handcuffed and taken to Oxford. He was wearing only one shoe, which matched the one found near the car. He admitted being in the vehicle but said Boggs was driving. He said he had run to a friend’s house and decided to leave.
Manning, 34, was charged with failure to comply with an order or signal from a police officer, operating in a willful or wanton disregard for safety, obstructing official business and receiving stolen property. He was taken to the Butler County Jail.
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