The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

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October 31, 2009

UPDATE: Man caught after chase, police car rollover

By Patrick Cooley

MERCER COUNTY — An Edinboro man led Mercer State Police on a 15-mile high-speed chase that left him and a state trooper in the hospital on Friday.

On Friday afternoon, the Mercer barracks was made aware that Jonathan E. Ackerman, 24, of Edinboro, for whom there was an active arrest warrant, might be traveling south on Interstate 79 in New Vernon Township.

According to police reports:

A state trooper spotted Ackerman’s car speeding south on I-79 and attempted to pull him over, but Ackerman accelerated away from the trooper’s patrol car, and more troopers were called in to help capture him.

State police put a spike strip on the southbound lane of I-79 to try to stop Ackerman’s car, which he avoided by swerving his car around it.

Ackerman eventually exited onto state Route 62, and the chase continued.

Trooper James Mason, who had initially spotted Ackerman, got ahead of his car and tried to stop it by slowing down, but Ackerman struck the rear of Mason’s patrol car, forcing it off the road, and causing it to roll several times.

Mason was pulled from his patrol car by several policeman, passersby and others who happened to be at the scene. He sustained injuries and was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown, where he was treated.

Ackerman continued onto state Route 965, where troopers were finally able to force him off the road.

He was taken to Grove City Medical Center, Pine Township, where he was treated for minor injuries, police said. He was charged with aggravated assault, fleeing or attempting to elude a policeman, driving under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance, recklessly endangering another person, and resisting arrest, police said.

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