NEW PHILADELPHIA (Tusco TV) - Police are working to identify a suspect who fled from a crash Wednesday morning in a southside business district after a high-speed pursuit.

The incident started around 8:30 am when an officer attempted to stop a Nissan Altima on the west side of town. Chief Mike Goodwin says a pursuit ensued through various parts of town, coming to end after the car struck a guardrail on Commercial Avenue.

"At that time, three occupants of the vehicle jumped out and took off running towards a field up towards Goshen Avenue. Two of the individuals were apprehended immediately by the officer," he says.

Goodwin says the third suspect ended up getting away despite a lengthy search that involved two different drones and officers from multiple agencies scouring the area on foot. Goodwin says though that they have a good idea though of who he might be.

"We followed up on multiple leads. We believe we have a name that we are looking for so that part of the investigation is still going on but two of the individuals were taken into custody and are awaiting arraignments facing felony charges," he says.

Goodwin says South Elementary was alerted of the situation as a precaution due to the possibility of the remaining suspect being armed, although no official lockdown was ordered. 

"I think that they found some ammunition either in the vehicle or on the person which kind of brings the concern of why does somebody walk around with just ammunition in your pocket or your vehicle. It kind of leads that maybe there was a gun close by. We didn’t locate it at this time. We were looking for it, retracing the pursuit to see if maybe a person had thrown a gun out of a window. At this time we haven’t been able to find it or if there was a gun," he says.

The two suspects arrested at the scene were a 25-year-old former New Philadelphia man and 35-year-old from Uhrichsville. Goodwin says drugs were also located at the scene and have been sent out for testing. 

TUSCO TV