Underage drinking up in final week of Miami classes; OPD leads high-speed chase

In the final week of classes for Miami University students, the Oxford Police Department cited five people for underage drinking offenses. The department also responded to multiple vandalism reports and led one high-speed chase in the middle of the night after spotting a suspicious vehicle near the Talawanda School District’s bus garage.

Just before 1 a.m. May 9, an officer patrolling on University Park Boulevard near Talawanda High School spotted an SUV in the bus garage area. The driver of the vehicle immediately turned off the SUV’s headlights and drove away after spotting the officer, who then attempted to initiate a traffic stop.

The SUV exceeded 60 miles per hour while driving without headlights on University Park Boulevard before heading south on US 27. The driver occasionally turned on the lights to see before turning them off, according to an incident report, and exceeded 100 miles per hour. The Oxford Township Police picked up the chase before OPD was able to bring the vehicle to a stop.

Back at the bus garage, officers found that the gate had been opened, one bus had its hood open and another had a fuse panel open on the side. The bus garage supervisor confirmed that no hoods or panels should have been open, and the gate had been closed at the end of the day.

Earlier in the week, just after 1 a.m. on May 5, officers responded to the first underage drinking incident of the week. A caller had reported being jumped on Walnut Street by two suspects who fled in a car. The vehicle fled down High Street before parking in front of the police station, according to the incident report.

When an officer responded, the driver’s “head was hanging out” of the vehicle, and “he was puking on the door, the street and himself,” the incident report stated. Surveillance footage showed the vehicle damaging a parking meter, and the officer observed an open bottle of vodka in the center console of the car.

The driver was transported to McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital, where he refused a urine sample. The driver, a 20-year-old, faces charges of operating a vehicle impaired,failure to control a vehicle and underage possession of alcohol, according to Butler County court dockets. The 19-year-old passenger, meanwhile, faces charges of underage possession of alcohol and drivers license alteration for possessing a fake ID. The initial caller opted not to press charges for assault.

After 2 a.m. May 8, officers cited a male with a fake ID for drinking underage after he was spotted laying in the middle of the road. On May 10, a male was charged for underage drinking after OPD responded to break up a fight near the Uptown parks, and a 19-year-old was charged with the same crime after being found “passed out and unable to care for himself” near Walnut Street by a passerby.

Beyond alcohol offenses, OPD also responded to a car fire and several theft and vandalism incidents throughout the week. On May 8, police responded to a car fire and suspected that the owner may have started the fire intentionally, according to the incident reports. The owner was transported to McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital after requesting assistance because he was having a mental health crisis that made him “a danger to himself and others,” according to the report.

OPD responded to one vandalism call on May 10 after a person walking through an alley threw paint on the back of a house. On May 11, police responded to a different location when a caller said someone had spraypainted their house. The department has no suspects, according to the weekly media report. Later that day, police also reported damage to a vehicle on Church Street identified as criminal mischief.

Between April 5 and April 12, OPD responded to three additional calls for theft and reported one incident each of drug possession, domestic violence, menacing, telecommunications fraud, fraud and forgery.