Police attempted a traffic stop at around 2 a.m. in the area of Tylersville Road and Cincinnati-Dayton Road. The driver refused to stop and headed westbound on Tylersville Road, leading officers in a pursuit.
The officer pursued the vehicle until reaching the area of Farmgate Drive. Officers then deactivated lights and sirens and terminated the pursuit. The vehicle crashed into a utility pole. On the heavily redacted body cam video the officer says “it appears he has sheared a pole and the vehicle is flipped on its side,” a little later he says “he’s got his hands up.”
There were two juveniles ages 12 and 15 in the car, one remains hospitalized and the other was released to a parent.
Adults in the car were Chhabi Bhandari, 20 and Mukunda Baskota, 28 and both have arrest warrants from Ashland County.
The warrants for Bhandari include improper handling of firearms and failure to appear in court for OVI, no driver’s license, speed, safety belt, use/possession of drug paraphernalia. Bhandari was in custody in the Butler County Jail, is no longer listed as an inmate. Spokeswoman Barb Wilson said it was expected he would be picked up by Ashland County officials for those warrants..
Baskota was wanted on use and possession of narcotics equipment. Mukunda Baskota remains hospitalized and will be arrested upon his release.
Charges related to the single-vehicle crash are pending at this time. The investigation into the crash is expected to take several weeks to complete.
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