Woman arrested in police chase from Austintown to Ravenna

AUSTINTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – A woman from the Columbus area is facing charges after investigators say she led them on a chase that started in Canfield and ended on Interstate 76 in Portage County. And a woman who was with her admitted to driving during another police chase earlier that day in Ashland County, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP).

Jayla Dunlap, 18, of Whitehall, Ohio, is charged with failure to comply, possession of drugs or drug abuse, and was cited for no tail lights.

According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, a trooper saw a 2013 Nissan Sentra with just one headlight and no taillights on Interstate 80 heading west in Austintown at about 11:30 p.m. on Saturday. When the trooper tried to stop the driver, later identified as Dunlap, she took off, troopers said.

A chase ensued and troopers deployed spike strips on I-76 in Ravenna. Dunlap hit the spikes, which slowed her down, but she continued driving until troopers used a vehicle maneuver to stop her and she spun out, hitting a cable in the median, according to OSHP.

Dunlap was ordered out of the vehicle at gunpoint and arrested at the scene.

“I was behind you the whole time, you were doing 100 — 100 plus,” a trooper tells Dunlap during the stop.

“I wasn’t driving the whole time…I was just scared,” Dunlap said.

Troopers said Dunlap’s 19-year-old passenger admitted to driving the car during a chase in Ashland County earlier that same day that was called off, and that charges are pending against that passenger.

“The trooper spotted the vehicle traveling approximately 100 miles per hour in a 70-mile-per-hour zone on Interstate 71,” said Sgt. Bridgett Matt.

No plea was entered at Dunlap’s arraignment on Monday. Bond was set at $8,000.

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