WASHINGTON C.H. — A Greenfield man was sent to prison Monday after leading law enforcement officers on a pursuit that went for approximately 55 miles throughout Fayette County and surrounding areas.
Corey A. Posey, 27, plead guilty to failure to comply, a third-degree felony, and was sentenced in Fayette County Court of Common Pleas to one-and-a-half years in prison.
In the same case, Posey plead guilty to operating a vehicle under the influence (OVI), a first-degree misdemeanor, and was ordered to serve 30 days in the Fayette County Jail. According to the report, a test indicated Posey had a blood-alcohol concentration of .166 at the time of the pursuit. The state limit is .08.
Additional sentencing orders were a five-year suspension of his class two driver’s license and a three-year suspension of his class five driver’s license.
Posey was driving a red Chevrolet pickup truck Dec. 10, 2016 at 12:30 a.m., according to the investigative report filed by the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Patrolmen observed Posey driving erratically on State Route 753 in Wayne Township. The officers reported the truck was traveling between 90 and 95 miles per hour in a 55 mile per hour area and was weaving across the center line and white edge line.
“As we were approaching Flakes Ford Road, the truck began to slow and signaled to make a right turn. I activated my emergency lights to initiate a traffic stop,” wrote the reporting patrolman in the report. “As the truck turned right (westbound) onto Flakes Ford Road, it traveled off the left side of the road and into a residential yard. It went across the driveway and ditch, getting back onto the roadway. The truck then began to speed up and I activated the siren, giving the vehicle operator an audible signal to stop. The truck continued and we began to pursue.”
The report states the patrolmen pursued Posey at 85 miles per hour; there was no other traffic on the roadway.
From Flakes Ford Road, the pursuit continued south onto Creek Road, north onto Rock Mills-Good Hope Road, back to State Route 753, then east onto Miami Trace Road, south to Lyndon Road, east on White Lane, north on Waugh Road, and east on Sever Road, continuing at 75-80 miles per hour until the truck traveled off the roadway into the ditch.
“The truck immediately accelerated and got back onto the road again traveling eastbound,” the patrolman wrote.
From Sever Road the pursuit continued east on Austin Good Hope Road, north on Austin Road and north on Plano Road, which had signs posted stating “Road Closed” and “No Outlet.”
“As we traveled down Plano Road, it appeared that the road was closed due to construction of a bridge which crossed over a creek,” the report stated. “As we approached the construction site, the truck turned left onto a dirt access road which crossed the creek and detoured around the construction. We followed the truck across the detour and got back onto Plano Road traveling north.”
The Ohio State Highway Patrol asked for back-up from surrounding areas but help was unable to intervene due to Posey’s unpredictable path, reports said.
From Plano Road, the pursuit headed east on Old US Highway 35 and north onto a private dirt road. The dirt road led along a creek and under US Route 35. From there, the 80 mile per hour pursuit entered eastbound Water Road, turned south onto Putnam Road and continued to State Route 138, turning onto Bush Mill Road.
From Bush Mill Road, Posey slowed to 60 miles per hour and turned onto Egypt Pike and south on Westfall Road, speeding up to 75 miles per hour again. Westfall ended at East High Street and the pursuit traveled west from there toward the town of Frankfort. From Frankfort, the pursuit went onto Porter Avenue and north on Springfield Street out of town to County Road 550, where the pursuit reached speeds of 100 miles per hour.
As the pursuit approached State Route 138, a Ross County deputy sheriff was sitting at the intersection and joined the pursuit. Posey led the officers back onto Plano Road and through the dirt detour across the creek.
Posey continued to re-trace the original route but before Water Road, he made a sharp right and went into a deep ditch, disabling the vehicle. Posey then attempted to flee on foot but was stopped when he was tased by one of the patrolmen. He was arrested and booked into the Fayette County Jail.
Reports state that Posey told the patrolmen he had fled because he was afraid of getting an OVI and losing his driver’s license.
Prior to sentencing, Posey’s attorney filed a memorandum in the Fayette County Court of Common Pleas asking the court to consider ordering community control and work release in the sentencing because a prison term was not mandatory, per the sentencing guidelines in the Ohio Revised Code. According to the memorandum, Posey had “a solid career earning good money” as a bus mechanic. In similar Fayette County cases, according to the memorandum, offenders were sentenced with community control.
Posey was ordered to serve the year-and-a-half prison sentence without participating in any transitional programs and is not eligible for early release, according to court records. Posey was ordered to pay $875 in fines and $1,626 in court costs for prosecution in the case. He is incarcerated at Allen Correctional Institution with a release date of Jan.7, 2019.
