PARMA, Ohio — Two wanted fugitives were arrested Tuesday afternoon after they fled from U.S. Marshals and led authorities on a high-speed pursuit with a 3-year-old child inside, according to a release from the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force.
Task force members were at a convenience store at the corner of State Route and Leopold when they saw a man walk up to the store with a bandanna around his neck and beanie hat pulled down over his forehead, according to the release.
When officers approached the man, he fled to a nearby vehicle. Task force officers followed the vehicle and attempted to initiate a traffic stop when the vehicle took off at a high rate of speed.
Parma officers, who were in the area at the time of the pursuit, stopped the vehicle in the 6200 block of Ridge Road.
Police arrested the driver of the vehicle, identified as 21-year-old Daunte Cruz, who was recently released from the Cuyahoga County Jail on Jan. 9 with ankle monitor for violating terms of his probation for a receiving stolen property case.
The passenger in the vehicle, identified as Elisha Verba, 24, had a warrant for his arrest from 2018 for probation for a domestic violence case. At the time of his arrest, he was found with a stolen 9mm handgun and drugs.
Authorities also found an unharmed 3-year-old child in the back of the vehicle. The child was given to family members at the scene.
Both Cruz and Verba are being held at Parma City Jail. Additional charges are likely to be filed, according to the release.
