DocketNumber: No. 89417.
Citation Numbers: 2008 Ohio 232
Judges: MELODY J. STEWART, J.
Filed Date: 1/24/2008
Status: Non-Precedential
Modified Date: 4/18/2021
{¶ 4} The state charged Jordan with a failure to comply with an order or signal of a police officer under R.C.
{¶ 6} The officer returned to his cruiser, radioed that the minivan had fled, and gave pursuit with signal lights and sirens activated. The minivan had pulled away from the officer, causing the officer to lose sight of it. He turned off his siren in anticipation of terminating the pursuit, but then saw the minivan in the distance, traveling at a high rate of speed. The officer also saw a police car from the city of *Page 4 Cleveland initiate a turn and pursue the minivan with its lights activated. When the two police cars next caught sight of the minivan, they saw it had struck a parked car. The minivan doors were open and no passengers were present. The police learned that the occupants of the minivan had fled down the street. They arrested a female and a clean-shaven male about half a block away from the minivan. They also discovered a bloody football jersey and white t-shirt between some houses. The officers returned to the minivan and conducted an inventory search before towing it. They found a black, fleece jacket that contained a state identification card with Jordan's name and photograph. The officer testified that the picture shown on the identification card looked "closely" similar to the driver of the minivan. The police also recovered a black skull cap that the Linndale officer said was the same cap he saw Jordan wearing at the time he pulled the minivan over.
{¶ 7} An EMS worker testified that he responded the following morning to an emergency call about a male who fell. When he responded on the scene, he found Jordan lying face down on the ground. In his report, the EMS worker stated that "patient states that last night he was running from the police when he jumped over a six-foot high fence and fell and he hurt his back and could not get up."
{¶ 8} The Cleveland police officer who pursued the minivan testified that when he came upon the stopped minivan, he saw severe damage to the vehicle's front-end. None of the occupants of the minivan were present at the scene of the crash. *Page 5
He said that he quickly inventoried the vehicle and found the coat with Jordan's I.D. He was told that some of the occupants of the minivan had fled down the street.
{¶ 9} Jordan offered testimony of three family members who collectively testified that Jordan stopped by their house unannounced at 1:00 a.m. He visited for awhile, but none of them could say why he stopped, nor could they recall the substance of the conversation. Jordan left after about an hour, entering the passenger side of the white minivan. One of the defense witnesses confirmed that Jordan had been wearing a black "scarf" on his head.
{¶ 10} Jordan testified that he stopped by the house at about 1:00 a.m. to see his half-sisters, even though it was a school night for the sisters. A friend named Rayshawn Dawson called him and said that he would pick up Jordan and together they would travel across the city to a bar. They were on the interstate when Jordan realized that he left his cell phone at his sisters' house. Dawson was speeding back to the house when stopped by the police. Dawson asked Jordan what he should do, and Jordan said, "you do what you want to do." Dawson then pulled away. After they crashed, Jordan said he panicked and ran, shedding his jacket and shirt in order to be "lighter" while running. He further testified that he was on top of a garage when he decided to surrender to the police. An officer pulled him from the roof, causing him to fall on the ground and suffer injuries. He claimed that the police used their tasers on him for approximately 20 minutes, causing him to blackout, and then left *Page 6 him lying on the ground. He denied telling emergency and medical personnel that he had been running from the police. He also denied having any covering on his head.
{¶ 12} The state also presented evidence that Jordan drove away from the traffic stop after having been pulled over, thus establishing the elements of a failure to comply with a lawful order or signal by a police officer. By pulling off the interstate, Jordan obviously saw the initial signal to stop. His subsequent flight from the traffic stop and high speed attempt to evade the police, who were pursuing with lights and sirens activated, was sufficient evidence to establish that he was aware of the signal and failed to comply. See State v. Love, Summit App. No. 21654,
{¶ 16} Jordan's evidence lacked credibility in almost all respects. He claimed to have dropped by to visit his sisters at 1:00 a.m. on a school night, yet neither of the sisters could recall any details of the visit other than that he had been wearing a scarf on his head. He offered no explanation as to why he did not run to his sisters' house after the crash, even though the crash occurred just a few houses down the street from that house. He claimed to have told emergency personnel that he suffered his injuries because the police beat him, yet the EMS testimony and hospital records were in agreement that he said he had been running from the police and fell while jumping a fence. Finally, his claim that he had been pulled from the roof of a garage by the police, tortured and then abandoned was unbelievable. Jordan gave no *Page 9 explanation as to why the police would engage in a high speed pursuit and foot chase, only to leave him.
{¶ 17} We also reject Jordan's contention that the court should not have found him guilty because it stated that it did not find any of the witnesses to be credible. During sentencing, Jordan insisted that he had not been the driver of the car and wanted to know why the police had not taken fingerprints from the minivan. He also questioned how he could cause himself "$6,000 in personal injuries from running from the police?" The court replied, "[m]aybe it was when you hit the other car." Jordan replied, "I wasn't driving the car." The court then replied, "[l]isten, I listened to the testimony. I heard all the witnesses. I didn't find anybody credible. How about that? I made my determination, and I'm comfortable with my determination. You can appeal that." We believe these comments, although maybe harsh, were inconsequential in light of the evidence produced at trial.
Judgment affirmed.
It is ordered that appellee recover of appellant its costs herein taxed.
The court finds there were reasonable grounds for this appeal.
It is ordered that a special mandate issue out of this court directing the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas to carry this judgment into execution. The defendant's conviction having been affirmed, any bail pending appeal is terminated. Case remanded to the trial court for execution of sentence. *Page 10
A certified copy of this entry shall constitute the mandate pursuant to Rule 27 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure.
*Page 1SEAN C. GALLAGHER, P.J., and KENNETH A. ROCCO, J., CONCUR