KETTERING — A suspect has been identified in a pursuit that occurred Tuesday where a driver rammed into a police cruiser.
A portion of cruiser camera was released to News Center 7 Thursday afternoon, with additional video released Friday.
Ra’von D. Hampton, 23, was charged with OVI and felonious assault on an officer, along with other charges such as criminal endangerment and obstructing official business.
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Hampton suffered minor injuries from a K-9 officer on the scene of the initial pursuit, but he has been released from the hospital and was booked into Montgomery County Jail.
An officer attempting to arrest Hampton also received minor injuries, according to police reports.
Officers initially were called at 9:40 p.m. to an apartment building parking lot in the 1500 block of Brownleigh Road on a report of a vehicle that struck a stop sign and a couple cars in the parking lot, Kettering police Lt. Bradley Lambert said.
A nearby officer was able to briefly get the vehicle stopped at another apartment complex in the 1300 block of Devon Avenue, he said.
“The suspect stopped. He then backed up and intentionally rammed the police cruiser, and then he did it a second time, intentionally rammed a police cruiser, which was able to get him the room he needed to get out of that lot,” Lambert said.
A third parked vehicle was hit in that parking lot as the suspect left, and Lambert said “from there a police pursuit was initiated.”
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Traffic was light, with speeds during the short pursuit mostly ranging between 50 and 70 mph, the lieutenant said.
That pursuit was captured on surveillance video.
When the driver, later identified as Hampton, turned from Dorothy Lane onto Dixie Drive, he lost control a bit, which gave officers time to perform a “pit maneuver” to stop the driver, which ended the pursuit in the Walmart parking lot in Moraine.
Hampton then got out of the truck and took off running before a Kettering police K9 was sent after him. The suspect was taken into custody with only a minor injury, Lambert said.
Hampton also clipped another vehicle in the area of Stroop and Shroyer roads during the chase.
The owner of that vehicle, Dave Collins, said he was sleeping when he heard a loud boom.
“Next thing I know I got some Kettering cops at my door,” he said. “And they say some gentlemen that was on the run tried to make a cut through, came right by and slammed right in to the back of my car and ran in and took back off.”
Collins said he’s a disabled Air Force veteran who is on a fixed income.
“I’m just sort of stuck of limbo right now,” he said. “...This is going to be a real challenge just to get the deductible.”
Collins also expressed concerns about how police chases are happening.
“This kind of stuff seems to happen all the time now,” he said. “Now it’s just like it seems like there’s one every week.”
