Hignite was booked into the Butler County Jail on a pair of felony charges, felonious assault, a first-degree felony, and failure to comply with an order or signal of a police officer, a third-degree felony. He was also charged with resisting arrest, a second-degree misdemeanor and a parole violation.
Since last month, the Butler County Sheriff’s Office had been actively searching for Hignite after they say he failed to stop after allegedly speeding in Hamilton on the night of May 22. The vehicle was traveling 55 miles per hour in a 35 mph one on Eaton Road, according to sheriff’s office records. That led law enforcement on a multiple cruiser chase that ended when the suspect bailed out of a wrecked vehicle on Gordon Smith Boulevard.
The driver accelerated when the deputy got out of the cruiser, leading deputies and Hamilton officers on a pursuit in the city, then into the county and back into Hamilton. The driver hit a car on Shultz Drive and “clipped a cruiser at the roundabout” and then traveled on Shultz, Cleveland Avenue, Washington Boulevard, West Elkton Road and Beissinger Road before he jumped out of the car while it was moving on Gordon Smith, according to officers.
Butler County Sheriff’s Capt. Rick Bucheit said the man, who would later be identified as Hignite, ran into one of the apartment buildings on Gordon Smith and law enforcement “searched for him in the attic of the building and in the woods behind the buildings.”
The sheriff’s office identified Hignite to the media on May 25 as the man they were searching for days earlier. His last known address was on Gordon Smith and had an active parole violation along with charges from the sheriff’s office for resisting arrest, felonious assault, and failure to comply.
Hignite was released from prison in March after a conviction of drug and failure to comply charges, according to court records.
