PARMA HEIGHTS, Ohio — A simple traffic stop for high speed on Pearl Road in Parma Heights early Tuesday quickly turned into a chase, ending with the suspect driving into a locally owned business.
According to Parma Heights Police, at approximately 1:11 a.m. on March 24, patrol officers observed a dark colored Volkswagen traveling nearly double the posted speed limit.
Assisting in this incident is Parma Police, who said the driver reached speeds of 70 to 80 miles per hour.
As seen in dash camera footage provided by Parma Heights PD, the suspect's vehicle came to a stop in the middle of the roadway before the driver rapidly accelerated, fleeing from police.
In an attempt to evade officers, the driver was unable to safely make a right turn and struck K&K Heating and Cooling at the corner of Brookpark Road and Roseside Avenue.
Surveillance from the business shows the vehicle, with its right turn signal on, crashing into the building at 1:14 a.m.
Luckily, no one was inside at the time of the accident.
Two adults, a male and a female, were inside the car.
Surveillance showed one person getting out of the vehicle with their hands up before running out of frame.
According to Parma Heights Police body camera footage, the two people are siblings.
Both were taken into custody. The male was found to have a felony warrant through the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas.
Parma Fire transported the male to Metro Main Campus for observation. The female refused medical care.
The incident remains under investigation as of now, with formal charges to be filed against the driver, according to a Parma Heights Police press release.
The owner of K&K Heating and Cooling, Keith Tysar, said he's still shocked by the whole situation.
"I can only imagine how much that building shook when they hit because they were going fast. We actually just got two rescue cats in there that have only been there for a few weeks now, and God, they must have been terrified. I'm surprised they actually didn't get out," Tysar told me.
Tysar said both cats are unharmed.
The outside of the building is now boarded up as Tysar awaits his business's insurance company to make coverage estimates. He expects that process to unfold by the end of this week or early next week.
He's also waiting to see if the driver's vehicle was covered by insurance.
Tysar said the inside of the building also suffered damage.
"It caved in a little bit on the inside, some drywall, some floor damage on the inside too," Tysar said.
Tysar is hopeful reconstruction of his building will start soon and will be finished in April.
