Driver of suspected stolen car arrested after police chase that ends in Vandalia

A 21-year-old man is in jail after he was accused of driving a stolen car that hit an unmarked sheriff's vehicle before fleeing from law enforcement officers across at least three Montgomery County locations.

Christopher Koch was arrested just before 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in the 500 block of Tionda Drive in Vandalia, where a Butler Twp. police officer took Koch into custody at the end of the brief chase, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.

A sheriff's detective spotted a stolen Honda Acura in Harrison Twp. about 1:20 p.m. The detective, who was in an unmarked vehicle, and two other sheriff's vehicles were called to Republic Drive in Harrison Twp. to effect a traffic stop on the suspect vehicle.

The driver of the Acura immediately backed into the front bumper of one of the unmarked vehicles, causing minor damage, and sped off headed north on Dixie Drive.

Several other marked and unmarked law enforcement vehicles spotted the suspect vehicle drive through a residential area in northeast Harrison Twp. and eventually head north on Poe Avenue in Dayton.

Butler Twp. police, reacting to an alert Montgomery County Sheriff's Regional Dispatch sent to area agencies about the car and the incident on Republic Drive, saw the Acura on Little York Road. The Acura would not stop for them and continued to flee.

A short time after that part of the chase, a citizen called police to report the suspect vehicle had been abandoned on Tionda Drive.

According to the sheriff's office, a township police officer took Koch into custody not long after the citizen's report. The sheriff's office offered no details as to whether arrest involved a foot chase or whether Koch surrendered on Tionda Drive.

He was booked into the county jail just after 5 p.m. pending the filing of a charge of receiving stolen property.

There were no injuries to officers or Koch in the incident, according to the sheriff's office.

About the Author