(8-27-23) According to social media reports last night it was a wild night for local police officials from Jay County to Auglaize County.
A high speed chase that may have started in Darke County and then moved to the the Jay County-Ft. Recovery area, went thru Celina and ended later this morning in St. Marys. The Ohio State Highway Patrol helicopter assisted in the incident.
Two men were arrested after peacefully surrendering to police.
Celina’s Don DeArmond witnessed the capture of two individuals–
I am speechless really. The reports that there was a kid but I never saw one. I only knew about the chase after they flew past our house in Celina about 2:30 am. We decided to head east on 29 and as we got out of Celina we saw all the lights toward St. Marys.
He must have crashed around 2:45 and they got him out of his truck at approximately 5:15am peacefully.
This is the (above) video of the passenger being detained after getting free from of the truck. On the scanner a guy had at the scene, he was injured and was being held back from the driver. I know the driver’s first name was David as they kept asking him to surrender
Very surreal with police from several jurisdictions as well as OHP.
They did employ a drone to get a good vantage point within the vehicle. But it appears it had run through all the batteries after over an hour and a half. I also believe they had been talking to him using cell phones.
The incident finally ended near Buffalo Wild Wings and the Superior Credit Union in St. Marys.
From the Auglaize County Sheriff’s Office:
News Release:
August 27, 2023
Vehicle Pursuit
On August 27″, 2023 at approximately 2:22 am, the Auglaize County Sheriff’s Office and numerous other agencies were involved in a vehicle pursuit. It was also learned that the occupants were possibly in possession of a firearm and holding one of the passenger’s hostage, at gun point.
The suspect vehicle came to a stop in the parking lot of Superior Federal Credit Union in St. Marys.
After several hours, the units on scene were able to talk the occupants to exit the vehicle peacefully and were then taken into custody.
The 2 occupants were later transported to the Auglaize County Correctional Center.
Taken into custody were: Jason A. Gerstner 01-09-1979 Union City, Indiana Charged with Receiving Stolen Property and Failure to Comply
David W. Atkinson 11-12-1992 Winchester, Indiana Charged with Receiving Stolen Property and Failure to Comply.
Multiple agencies assisted in this incident which remains under investigation. No further comment can be made at this time.
Mercer County Outlook 