The Ross County Grand Jury returned all 17 of their cases on Friday, April 5th, 2024, but with one downgraded to misdemeanor. Three were open to release to the public.
From testimony in the the grand jury in one of the cases, according to the Ross County Prosecutor’s Office:
On February 26th, a Ross County Sheriff’s deputy saw a driver fail to signal when turning from Southern Avenue onto South Bridge Street. The officer got behind the vehicle and activated his overhead lights.
The driver accelerated and continued on South Bridge Street at a high rate of speed, turning onto Eastern Avenue and reaching 90 miles an hour. He turned onto Stouffer Lane and eventually returned to South Bridge Street.
The deputy deployed stop sticks that contacted a rear tire, but the driver continued onto Southern Avenue, then back to South Bridge Street again – but northbound in the southbound lane.
He then turned onto 8th, Hickory, 7th, and Knoles where he drove off the street at 264 Knoles Avenue and fled on foot…but was shortly caught.
There is no clear reason why the driver fled; no drugs or other factors are mentioned in the report.
For indictments on third-degree felony Failure to Comply, 24-year-old Zachariah M. Douglas of 440 Minnehan Bend Road north of Nipgen in southwestern Ross County could get up to three years and $10,000 in fines.
1 of 2 24-year-old Zachariah M. Douglas of 440 Minnehan Bend Road, Ross County
2 of 2 Ross County Grand Jury, April 5th: High-Speed Chase in Southern Chillicothe