MARION, Ohio — A 22-year-old man is dead and four others are injured after the man led an officer on a brief chase before crashing into another vehicle Saturday night, according to the Marion Police Department.
Officers were called to the 100 block of East Mark Street around 10:15 p.m. on a report of a violent altercation. After arriving on the scene, the responding officer saw the suspect leaving the area at a high rate of speed in a 2014 Dodge.
Police said the driver fled northbound on Park Street and then eastbound on East Fairground Street, leading the officer on a brief pursuit that lasted around 36 seconds. The officer reportedly stopped pursuing when the suspect went left of center on East Fairground Street.
A short time later, police said the driver struck a 2013 Ford and went off the north side of the road where it struck a utility box, a pole and a tree at a high rate of speed. The driver, identified as Zachary Harter, of Marion, was killed in the crash.
A juvenile passenger in his vehicle also was injured and taken to Marion General Hospital before being transferred to Nationwide Children's Hospital.
Three occupants in the Ford were also injured and taken to Marion General Hospital. A woman was also taken to the hospital from East Mark Street from injuries suffered in the altercation.
Marion police requested that the Ohio State Highway Patrol investigate the crash.
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