A 51-year-old Parma man is facing felony charges after leading Bay Village and Westlake police on a pursuit that ended in an hour-long standoff, during which he allegedly smoked from a glass pipe, kicked at a police dog, and refused to release the steering wheel even after being shocked with a Taser.
The incident began at 10:15 p.m. on September 4 when Bay Village police started following a black Chevrolet Malibu after spotting an equipment violation, according to Cleveland.com. Westlake police overheard the pursuit over radio traffic and joined in as the suspect drove the Malibu southbound into Westlake on Dover Center Road.
A Westlake officer performed a pursuit intervention technique, or PIT maneuver, after the driver passed Bradley Road, according to the same account, causing the car to spin out. Officers from both departments then blocked the vehicle, but the driver refused to get out.
An Hour of Negotiation, Then Force
Westlake police negotiated with the man for roughly an hour as he stayed inside the car. During that time, the driver continued to text, talk on his phone, and smoke cigarettes and material from a glass pipe, per a Westlake press release cited in the report. Westlake Police Captain Gerald Vogel told WHIO TV that officers spent roughly an hour trying non-lethal de-escalation methods, including breaking the rear windows and deploying pepper balls into the passenger compartment, but the driver appeared “unaffected by the irritant.”…