A man suspected of stealing groceries at Giant Eagle was arrested after leading police on a chase in Mentor-on-the-Lake Thursday, authorities said.
Jay Grow, 49, of Mentor, was charged with reckless operation, failure to comply with signal of a police officer, no operator's license and theft.
According to police, officers were dispatched to a Giant Eagle at around 12:20 p.m. regarding a Chevrolet Malibu in a Giant Eagle parking lot. Mentor Police said the suspect had taken the car from his girlfriend without her consent, and did not return it.
When police got to the scene, an officer located the vehicle, along with the suspect loading groceries into the car.
Police said when Grow saw the officer, he jumped in to the car, locked the door and drove off at a "high rate of speed" through the parking lot and out of the shopping plaza.
Grow led police westbound onto Lakeway Boulevard, Munson Road and then onto Lakeshore Boulevard before Mentor Police deployed spike strips, causing a controlled deflation of the car's passenger side tires.
The car came to a stop on Lakeshore Boulevard, near Eastlake, and police arrested Grow without incident.
Police said Grow was unable to provide proof of purchase for the $266 worth of groceries allegedly taken from Giant Eagle.
Grow was arraigned Friday in Mentor Municipal Court, where his bond for the felony charge of failure to comply with a signal of a police officer was set at $75,000. Grow's bond for the misdemeanor charges was set at $10,000, police said.
Authorities added Grow had a probation warrant issued by Mentor Municipal Court, along with warrants from Portage County for unauthorized use, drugs and failure to appear.
