Man sentenced for Ravenna pursuit and crash that injured three people
A Cleveland man was sentenced this week in a two-car crash during a pursuit in Ravenna and Ravenna Township that injured another man and two teenagers last summer.
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Portage County Common Pleas Judge Laurie J. Pittman sentenced Daquan L. Hogan, 20, to six months in Portage County Jail. During that time, however, he is to be evaluated for possible placement into a mental health treatment program and transferred there from the jail if accepted.
Pittman also ordered that once Hogan is released from the jail or the treatment program, he is to serve four years probation, with the first year under intensive supervision. In addition, his driver's license is suspended for seven years.
Hogan's attorney did not return a phone call seeking comment.
According to a Ravenna police report, an officer saw Hogan using a parking lot as a shortcut while driving a car at the East Main and Oakwood streets intersection before heading west on East Main on Sept. 2. The officer was stopped at a red light at Oak Street and while waiting for it to turn green, he conducted a computer check of the car's license plate number and found the registration had expired.
The officer caught up to the Hogan's car and saw it traveling at a high rate of speed — the officer having to drive as fast as 90 mph to catch up— swerving in and out of lanes as it passed other vehicles and running a red light at Brady Lake Road.
At around Menough Road, Hogan drove left of center to pass stopped traffic, lost control when he tried to move back over the line and struck an eastbound car, with both cars then overturning.
Hogan fled his car on foot, but police found him in the nearby Village Estates mobile home park, where he surrendered without incident. Police said Hogan claimed another male had been driving the car, but officers said they had a clear look at the car after it crashed and no one else was seen in it or running from it.
The occupants of the other car, a Ravenna man and his two teenage daughters, were taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries, according to police. Hogan was also taken to a hospital and then booked into Portage County Jail later that evening.
Hogan tried to plead not guilty by reason of insanity but subsequently pleaded guilty in April to third-degree felony failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer and first-degree misdemeanor leaving the scene of an accident.
In a plea deal, additional charges in a grand jury indictment were dismissed, including no operator's license, an unclassified misdemeanor, and fourth-degree misdemeanor use of unauthorized plates. The report said the license plates on Hogan's car were found to belong to another vehicle, but had not been reported stolen.
Reporter Jeff Saunders can be reached at jsaunders@recordpub.com.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Man sentenced for Ravenna pursuit and crash that injured father, girls
