Man sentenced for leading troopers on over 130-mph chase

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — A city man was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Wednesday for a chase in November that reached speeds over 130 miles per hour.

Edwin Rodriguez, 21, received the sentence from Judge Maureen Sweeney in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court following Aug. 18 guilty pleas to charges of failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer, a fourth-degree felony; and operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, a first-degree misdemeanor.

The charges stem from a Nov. 5 chase that began about 7:40 p.m. on Interstate 680 in Boardman. Reports said a trooper clocked a car Rodriguez was driving southbound at 98 miles per hour, and when he tried to pull the car over, it failed to stop.

During the chase, he was driving in the center of the interstate until he got off the freeway at state Route 164, reports said. Reports said he still refused to pull over, and he passed several vehicles on the roadway at 120 miles per hour.

The chase continued, and at times, Rodriguez reached speeds of 134 miles per hour before he slowed down and ultimately stopped at Market Street and Leighton Avenue in Boardman.

Reports said Rodriguez told police he was “scared,” and he admitted to smoking marijuana just before the chase began.

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