CLEVELAND — Two police cruisers in pursuit of a stolen vehicle in Cleveland were struck by the driver fleeing from officers, according to the Cleveland Division of Police.
On Wednesday around 7:30 p.m., officers were called to assist the East Cleveland Police Department in locating a stolen vehicle involved with an aggravated robbery, police said.
While searching for the vehicle, officers were told it had been tracked to a parking lot in the area of East 76th Street and Korman Avenue.
Once on scene, officers attempted to approach the vehicle and a man exited and fled on foot, according to police.
The vehicle, a red Ford Focus, then began to flee, striking two police cruisers before leaving the parking lot and driving away at a high rate of speed, police said.
Officers began a pursuit, following the driver onto Interstate 90 from the area of East 72nd Street.
The pursuit was terminated after a police cruiser tire blew out on the highway. The vehicle was later found unoccupied on East 244th Street behind an apartment building, police said.
Other officers followed boot tracks left in the snow by the man who fled the vehicle before the pursuit, calling a SWAT unit to the home the footprints led to, but they did not find the man.
The incident remains under investigation.
