Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Update on 3 County Car Chase from Early Sunday Morning

Residents of Ashland and Mt. Carmel were awoken by police cars driving by their homes with sirens blaring at high rates of speed early Sunday morning.

Since then,  few details have emerged of what happened, but we finally got the information.

The chase started in Aristes when Robert Miller, 36, Tower City, failed to make a complete stop at a stop sign.   When Conyngham Township police attempted to pull him over, he continued south towards Centralia and was reported to be driving all over the road.

Police followed him to Ashland, where he made a left to go towards downtown Ashland and began driving at speeds up to 60 mph, passing vehicles and almost hitting a pedestrian.


At this point Conyngham townhip police called for backup from surrounding areas.

The chase continued down Centre St. Ashland, then onto Hoffman Blvd, the backroads towards Gordon, over Dutchtown Road, onto 901 through Lavelle, over the mountain to Locust Summit.  At this point backup arrived as they began driving on Route 54 towards Ashland.  They continued through Locust Dale, back to the top of town in Ashland, then left onto 61 towards Centralia.

The suspect then led police over the Snake Road to Mt. Carmel.

Officers briefly lost track of Miller in Mt. Carmel before he was spotted taking the Snake Road back towards Ashland again.

The police in pursuit attempted a road block and pinning maneuver at the intersection of route 54 and 61 in Ashland.  The suspect struck a Frackville cruiser during this attempt but was able to escape.

Leaving Ashland, Miller led police back through Locust Dale and Summit Station and over Merrian Mountain to Mt. Carmel's side streets.

At this point, officers had enough when Miller began driving on sidewalks to attempt to escape.

At Fifth and Locust streets in Mt. Carmel, Frackville's officer drove his cruiser into Miller's vehicle and attempted to pin him.  As the suspect attempted to drive away again, another police cruiser rammed the suspect head on blocking him in.

Initially the suspect resisted police but was then taken into custody.

Miller has outstanding bench warrants from both Northumberland and Schuylkill County.

Assisting Conyngham Township police were, Frackville, Mount Carmel, Mount Carmel Township, Shenandoah, Mahanoy Township, Butler Township, Ashland, Ralpho Township, and the state police from Frackville.