LEBANON, Ohio — Both directions of I-71 are now reopened and a person is in custody after police activity near Lebanon forced the highway to shut down.
The northbound lanes of the highway were initially closed at Wilmington Road and the southbound lanes were closed at SR-123.
According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, multiple calls were received reporting a person driving "recklessly" northbound on I-71 in a Hyundai SUV.
When troopers with OSHP attempted to pull the driver over, they refused to stop.
Stop sticks were deployed successfully and the vehicle came to a stop multiple times, but each time the driver failed to comply with police and drove away, according to OSHP.
Eventually, the driver pulled off near the rest area near Lebanon, where a standoff began between troopers and the driver.
After roughly one and a half hours of negotiations, the driver was taken into custody, OSHP said.
Although he refused to identify himself, OSHP said 32-year-old Gerale Witcher of Cincinnati is being charged with failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer and operating a vehicle while impaired.
Witcher will be medically cleared at a hospital before he is transported to the Warren County Jail, OSHP said, but they did not provide any information on what kind of medical attention Witcher required, or whether it was a result of the standoff.
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