Caught on video: Driver speeds through emergency scene, leads police on chase

WHITEHALL, Ohio — A 17-year-old is facing felony charges after he reportedly refused an officer's order to stop his car, drove through an emergency scene where firefighters were battling a two-alarm fire, then led police on a chase.

Body cam and dash cam caught the scene in Whitehall early Tuesday morning. An officer can be seen telling a driver at the edge of the fire scene to put his car in park, but that driver then speeds off, going over firehoses, right past firefighters and breaking a nozzle.

As officers from Columbus Police catch up with him, dash cam video shows them use a maneuver to hit the back of the vehicle, but the driver manages to regain control and take off again. At one point, the vehicle is going the wrong-way, nearly hitting an oncoming car, before heading into a neighborhood. As the driver and police weave through streets, the driver ends up going across lawns trying to escape, before being forced to a stop about three miles from the scene, near Bexley.

The identity of the teen driver has not been released, nor have charges at this time.

Firefighters were attacking a fire that ultimately destroyed a carry-out and tire shop on Main St in Whitehall when the scene started. Fortunately no one was hurt.