RAM AND ROLL SHOOTOUT 2007
One man is dead and two officers are injured after an overnight chase and shooting. Police said an officer tried to pull over a car on Cornell Road near Sycamore High School for driving without lights just before 12:30 a.m. The officer told dispatchers that he thought the Monte Carlo might be one stolen from Clermont County last week. Officers said the driver of the car, Charles Wayne Bennett, tried to run over the officer, then raced away, turning onto Reed Hartman Highway. As officers pursued the car at speeds up to 100 mph, they said Bennett rammed his car into a police cruiser, then hit a tree. But when officers approached on foot near Cooper Road, police said, Bennett drove the car at them again and continued down Reed Hartman as police fired on the car. "The vehicle was being used as a weapon," said police Capt. James Schaffer. After another collision, the car stopped again, and an officer attempted to arrest Bennett. When Bennett tried to hit the officer with the car, the officer ended up on the car's hood and fired twice, hitting Bennett at least once. Bennett, 37, was taken to Bethesda North Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Blue Ash police said two officers suffered injuries in the chase.