DAYTON — A 32-year-old man was arrested after police suspect he was involved with multiple crashes involving a stolen ice cream truck throughout Dayton last week.
Michael Freeman Jr was arrested by Dayton police at an apartment in the 1300 block of McArthur Avenue after police located the stolen ice cream truck on the same street. He was charged Monday morning with felony vandalism, according to court records.
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At 11:12 a.m., officers responded to the first block of Watervliet Avenue after someone reported two ice cream trucks crashed into a fence and a third was stolen, according to court records.
Officers then responded about 15 minutes later to the intersection of West Grand and Forest avenues for a hit-and-run crash involving the ice cream truck.
“Upon arrival they made contact with the complainant who stated he had been involved in what appears to be a road rage incident involving an individual driving a van marked as an ice-cream truck,” a Dayton police spokesperson said.
According to police, the person who was hit said the ice cream truck passed him in an unsafe manner. The driver said he “threw up his hands” to demonstrate his frustration with being passed recklessly.
“The driver of the van was reported to have stopped his vehicle in the roadway and exited the van and verbally accosted the complainant, who wisely remained in his vehicle,” Dayton police said. “The driver of the van then got back in the vehicle placing it into reverse and collided with the complainant’s vehicle causing serious damage before fleeing the scene.”
The stolen ice cream truck was then spotted at Kettering Health Dayton, but had left before officers got there.
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Over three hours later, another hit-and-run crash involving a similarly described ice cream truck was reported in the area of U.S. 35 and I-75.
“We were just smashed by an ice cream truck,” a 911 caller said. “He just went the other way down 35....he took off.”
“Upon contacting the complainant in this crash they noted the vehicle description was similar to the suspect vehicle from the incident on West Grand Avenue,” Dayton police said. “The complainants in this crash were struck multiple times from the rear by a van marked as an ice cream truck. The these impacts eventually resulted in the complainant losing control of his vehicle and spinning out.”
Police were able to located the stolen ice cream truck around 6:30 p.m. and arrested Freeman.
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