WARREN, Ohio — Dramatic body camera footage has been released by the Warren Police Department showing their capture of a suspect who had forced his way into a daycare center last week.
According to a post on Facebook, on Nov. 2, an officer attempted a traffic stop on a male suspect who was wanted for felonious assault. The suspect refused to pull over and a pursuit ensued onto North Park Avenue.
The vehicle pursuit came to a stop when the suspect crashed into a vehicle in the vicinity of North Park Ave. and Washington Street NE. He got out of the care and fled the scene on foot, moving behind the Precious Times Child Care and Preschool.
Officers were close behind the suspect in the foot chase. The body camera video shows one of the officers pulling out a taser and yelling at the suspect to "get your hands up."
The suspect then forced his way through the rear door of the daycare center as an employee tried to close it. As police followed him into center, the suspect raised his hand towards officers, threatening to shoot them. One of the officers tried to tase the suspect, but was not successful.
Police finally captured the suspect when he went into a classroom, tumbling into a playpen near several young children.
Amid screams from both adults and children, an officer is heard instructing staff members to "get the kids, please get the kids." Around 30 seconds later, the officer reported that all the children had been evacuated.
Meanwhile, the suspect and police engaged in some back-and-forth shouting. Officers expressed frustration that the suspect had threatened them. "You want to point your finger at me? Tough guy!," one of the officers shouted.
"Don't yell at me," the suspect exclaimed. "Screw you," replied the officer.
Police have identified the suspect as 39-year-old Lamar Mitchell. He has been charged with the following:
- Failure to comply
- Felonious assault
- Aggravated burglary
- Four counts of aggravated menacing
"It was really upsetting, not even going to lie I cried when I watched the video, because just hearing the babies crying in the video, I could hear my son's cry," one parent told 3News.
The parent did not want to be identified but said she had two kids in the daycare at the time of the incident.
Her 18-month-old son was in the room that the suspect ran into and can be seen in the bodycam video being carried out by a daycare worker.
Her 4-year-old daughter was in a nearby room. She said she's been traumatized by what happened.
"The one night we were sitting on the porch and there was a fire truck that went down the road and she covered herself up with her blanket and just started hysterically crying and shaking saying 'I got to hide, its the cops they're going to get me,'" she said.
She told 3News she's thankful the entire situation wasn't more tragic.
"I'm glad the situation wasn't worse than what it was, it could've been a lot worse but it's still traumatizing, they're babies."