Car theft is a massive problem all over the country. However, personal vehicles aren’t always the target. Recently, a man in Ohio stole a semi-truck and then led police on a lengthy chase after evading a traffic stop. Sadly, this required many police resources and lasted for much more than an hour. Now, the man is behind bars after risking the safety of everyone in his vicinity. 

Committing car theft and evading a traffic stop are surefire ways to end up in jail

According to WCPO, the Ohio State Highway Patrol received a call about an instance of car theft on a semi-truck on January 11th in Indiana. They began pursuing the truck at around 12:45 in order to try pulling it over for a traffic stop. Sadly, the driver refused to pull over the stolen truck. The report says that the driver even threw hammers and other tools from the vehicle at the police officers as a means to escape. At this time, they also had the help of the Middletown and Trenton Police Departments, and they were in Butler County. 

They continued trying to make the traffic stop. Eventually, the driver ventured into Preble County but then returned to Butler, all while the police were still behind him. Notably, police from Butler County also joined in the pursuit of the car theft suspect. The officers later decided to deploy stop sticks, which deflated the semi truck’s tires and caused the man to pull over. This was in Hamilton. 

Following the forced traffic stop, the police arrested Joseph Allen Horton for his crimes. Of course, this included failure to comply and receiving stolen property. Both are felony charges. More charges are pending as the investigation continues. The police chase lasted about 90 minutes before the driver pulled over. It’ll be interesting to see what his other charges will be.