RAVENNA, Ohio — A man arrested early Monday morning for operating a vehicle under the influence has already been convicted for OVI nine times, according to the Portage County Sheriff’s Office.
According to Major Larry Limbert, Todd Casten, 47, drove out of the parking lot of a convenience store on Route 59 and Bridge Street, and his front tires went into a ditch on Bridge Street.
Limbert said when a uniformed deputy, who had been at the convenience store while Casten was outside the store, drove up behind Casten, Casten backed his car into the deputy’s cruiser before leading him on a short chase through a residential neighborhood.
“In this case, [Casten] left his house, he was going to the store to pick up additional, some more beer, and then he was going back home,” Limbert said. “And he drove to do that.”
The problem, though, is that Casten has nine prior OVI convictions and does not have a valid driver’s license, according to Limbert.
“This individual’s driver’s license expired back in 1991, so he didn’t even have a driver’s license,” Limbert said. “But, you know, that doesn’t stop people from borrowing a car, getting into another car, getting into a neighbor’s car, friend, a relative’s car, taking it and driving it and going wherever.”
This is a challenge law enforcement officers must deal with more often than they’d like.
“When a uniformed officer stops a car, we don’t know immediately who the driver is and what their driving record is,” Limbert said. “Because a lot of times, the individuals that are driving under the influence, they’re using somebody else’s car.”
Even with several prior offenses, people convicted of drunk driving don’t necessarily spend much time in prison.
“When you look at the state laws for that violation, your time in prison’s going to be minimal,” Limbert said. “So they go in and they come back out. It’s pretty much a revolving door.”
That means police have to try to prevent repeat offenders however they can, which sometimes includes charging other people who loan their cars to people without licenses or with drunk driving convictions.
“There’s a law in the books where if somebody knows that they’re giving a vehicle to somebody who doesn’t have a license and is out driving and committing other violations, that the owner of that vehicle can be charged,” Limbert said.
Keeping repeat offenders off the roads, Limbert said, is critical to keeping the public safe.
“This time he backed into a police cruiser,” Limbert said. “The next time it could be running a red light, broadsiding a vehicle. It could go from just a simple fender-bender crash to actually being involved in a fatal car crash and taking a life.”
Jeralyn Shimell, a victim advocate with MADD in Cleveland, said repeat OVI offenders are "definitely a problem." After looking at Casten's driving record and history with the judicial system, Shimell said that Casten "obviously needs real help" and expressed concern that the system wasn't set up for helping people like Casten through counseling.
Todd Casten was released after posting bond and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on May 3.
