Update: Mistaken kidnapping spurred police chase and crash
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Cleveland police initially reported that a police vehicle crashed Monday at a major downtown Cleveland intersection after chasing a car that was connected to a kidnapping.
Now, they say there does not appear to have been a kidnapping at all.
The crash happened around 3:30 p.m. at the intersection of East 9th and Superior, according to a statement by the Cleveland police.
Officers were pursuing a vehicle that was connected to a reported kidnapping of a 15-year-old boy, according to the release.
The officers in pursuit were t-boned by a civilian vehicle, according to a police update. A victim of that crash and a Cleveland police officer were taken to Metro Hospital with injuries.
The vehicle they were chasing fled the scene and two individuals ran near the 200 block of Euclid Avenue, according to the release. That Dodge caravan was speeding down Superior Avenue when it hit a car parked in front of the Hyatt hotel.
One male was arrested in a parking garage. 19 News spoke with a woman who almost went in during the stand off.
“I was trying to leave my apartment to go to Starbucks before I had to record and work and do stuff, and then I walked outside and there was ten police cars just on the street. I was like, ‘I don’t know what the heck is going on!’ recalled Gabb Goudy. “I go to cross the street into my parking garage and they’re like, ‘You can’t go in there’ and I’m like, ‘I’m just trying to go to Starbucks’ and they’re like ‘No there’s a suspect in here. You need to go back inside immediately.’ Like oh geez okay.”
A second male, who was originally believed to be a victim of kidnapping, was apprehended at the intersection of Eddy Road and Locke Avenue on the city’s East Side, police say.
”At least they told me before I went in there, but that’s so crazy like it’s a snowstorm in the middle of winter and then that, like oh my gosh, what a day,” said Goudy.
It’s possible that he took public transportation from downtown, police say.
The investigation is ongoing.
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