BOWLING GREEN -- We're learning more about Monday night's high-speed police chase and fatal shooting -- and about the man who was shot dead by a Bowling Green police officer.
As News 11 first reported, the situation began at a Bowling Green gas station with the theft of a Toyota Tundra that was at one of the pumps. Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers spotted the vehicle on I-75 and gave chase. The suspect sped down I-75 to North Baltimore, where he turned around and headed back to Bowling Green.
When he exited I-75 at Bowling Green, even stop sticks put down by police in the 400 block of W. Wooster didn't halt his run from the law. A tire blew, yet he kept on going. The chase continued all the way to Wood County Hospital.
We're told it was a typical night at the hospital -- until around 10:00 p.m. when the crazed man burst into the emergency room with law enforcement officers in pursuit. The man threatened two people in a treatment room.
An Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper tried subduing him with a jolt from a stun gun, but that didn't work. The man reached for his waistband and Bowling Green officer Alan Baer -- apparently thinking the man was going for a gun -- shot and killed him. Police say evidence available so far indicates the shooting was justified, even though it turned out that the man did not have a weapon.
Officer Baer has been placed on paid administrative leave. There'll be a Shooting Review Board convened to examine the incident and all the information will be turned over to the Wood County prosecutor's office for a grand jury investigation.
Here's what we know about the suspect:
He was 30-year-old Daniel Rice of Nappanee, Indiana. The Elkhart County Sheriff's office says Rice had an extensive criminal history. He was arrested in July, 1994, for possession of marijuana. About six months later, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced for illegal consumption of alcohol. In 1999, Rice was arrested for possession of an illegal drug and sentenced to 9 months in work release. In 2003, he was again arrested for possession of an illegal drug. Five months later -- and in May of this year -- Rice was arrested for obtaining a controlled substance by fraud.
Count on News 11 for continuing coverage of developments in this case.
