By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
A Bucyrus man committed what Crawford County Common Pleas Court Judge Sean Leuthold called “the worst possible form of the crime” and received the maximum prison sentence as a result Tuesday morning.
Twenty-four-year-old Jacob Thompson pleaded guilty to failure to comply with the order of a police officer, a third-degree felony, and received 36 months in prison in exchange. Included in his sentence was a $2,500 fine and a lifetime driver’s license suspension.
There is one light at the end of the tunnel for Thompson, though. Leuthold would consider judicial release after 15 months in prison.
Thompson’s felony charge stemmed from an incident that began on the evening of Sept. 21. A Bucyrus police officer attempted to make a traffic stop on Thompson after he was observed swerving his motorcycle across the lanes of traffic. Assistant prosecutor Ryan Hoovler stated that Thompson accelerated to speeds up to 90 miles per hour at times, ran a stop sign, and even went airborne over a set of railroad tracks.
Eventually, Hoovler said, the Bucyrus Police Department called off the pursuit because of the danger to them and the public.
The Crawford County Sheriff’s Office informed the Galion Police Department to be on the lookout for the green and black motorcycle that was being pursued by Bucyrus police on Ohio 100 and was approaching Galion-New Winchester Road. Though Galion police did not encounter the motorcycle coming into its jurisdiction, troopers from the Bucyrus Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol had previously been in pursuit of a motorcycle that matched that description.
Bucyrus police followed up on new information provided by the Ohio State Highway Patrol and located Thompson and a motorcycle matching the description at a Union Street address.
“This is the epitome of failure to comply,” said an astonished Leuthold. “This I believe to find the worse possible form of the crime.”
Defense attorney Sebastian Berger said his client was remorseful and was not in the right state of mind at the time the incident occurred.
“I wish things went a little different that day,” Thompson said. He also apologized to the police officers and his girlfriend.
“You’re very fortunate that you’re looking at 36 months in prison max,” Leuthold said before adding that Thompson was also lucky that no one died that day. “I’m sorry. Prison is necessary for someone who put this many lives at risk.”
“I was out there to kill myself that day, sir,” Thompson said before leaving the courtroom.
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