A 28-year-old man is currently behind bars in the Campbell County Detention Center after leading police on a high speed chase which killed two people earlier this month. New audio from a 911 call during that pursuit shed light on police response and what bystanders saw.
The Aug. 7 pursuit ended in a crash in Newport, but the 911 call came from Cincinnati by a woman whose vehicle, police say, had been side-swiped by Mason Meyer’s car.
The crash report says he was driving 60 mph in a 35 mph zone.
“Police chased after a car. I was pulling over to get out of the way. The car they were chasing after came up on my right. Hit me,” the caller told police on Aug. 7.
At just after 4 p.m., nearing rush hour on Downtown streets, the caller pulled over on a highway ramp and was not injured.
Meyer, who police said was fleeing a traffic stop in Lower Price Hill, then took off Downtown, onto Second Street and across the Roebling Bridge into Covington, Kentucky.
Witness Steve Caminiti saw the chase end as he sat in the left lane on Newport’s Fifth Street turning onto Monmouth Street.
“It was almost like a movie or something. Whoa, whoa whoa. It was crazy,” he said.
The pursuit ended when Meyer crashed into the side of Press on Monmouth, striking four people and killing Raymond and Gayle Laible.
Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac said administrative investigations will be conducted along with the Cincinnati’s police oversight body, the Citizen Complaint Authority.
Meyer, under surveillance by an Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms task force at the time, was wanted at the federal level.
He now stands charged with murder, wanton endangerment and fleeing and evading police. Meyer has a preliminary court hearing on Thursday.
