Elyria police: 9-time drunken driver fled going 100 mph in 35 mph zone

ELYRIA — A police chase of an alleged drunken driver early Saturday evening in the city involved a man who officers said was driving more than 100 mph in residential areas and already had nine prior DUI convictions. When officers caught up to him, 49-year-old Leon Warner of Blanche Avenue was arrested by Elyria police Saturday on felony charges of failure to comply and DUI, and misdemeanor charges of excess blood-alcohol content and driving under suspension. He was being held in the Lorain County Jail on $105,000 bond, according to jail records, with a preliminary hearing scheduled in Elyria Municipal Court on Oct. 27. Warner has at least nine prior felony and misdemeanor drunken driving convictions, according to Elyria police and Lorain County court records, with Saturday's arrest marking his 10th since at least 1994, police said. He also was caught driving while under a lifetime driver's license suspension, according to police and court records. The incident began just after 6:30 p.m. when an officer watching traffic saw a full-sized Ford F-150 squeal its tires while accelerating from a stop at Broad and Cedar streets before stopping for a red light at Broad and East Bridge streets. The driver was a bald white male, and when the officer pulled in behind the man and ran the truck's registration, the officer found it belonged to a 70-year-old woman, according to a police report. The truck then made a wide left turn, overcorrecting in order to head north on East River Street. It stopped at a four-way stop, turned on its right turn signal and then continued north on Park Place and on to Clark Street, drifting into the wrong lane, the officer wrote. When the officer tried to stop the truck, it turned right on Laundon Street and accelerated, failing to stop for the cruiser with its lights and sirens activated. According to the police report, the truck ran a stop sign at Laundon Street and East Broad Street; drove 100 mph in a 35 mph zone; passed numerous cars on the left while driving east in a westbound lane; and ran a red light at Prospect Street still traveling 100 mph in a 35 mph zone. The officer then ceased pursuit for safety reasons. Shortly after 7 p.m., another officer found the truck and Warner at a bar on Abbe Road, where Warner was arrested and the car towed. Warner appeared intoxicated, slurring and repeating his words and could not keep his balance, according to a police report. Warner admitted fleeing from the other officer, apologized and said he had consumed four 12-ounce Twisted Teas at a friend's house prior to driving to the bar, then two more of the same drink at the bar. Warner, whose driver's license was already suspended for life over his prior drunken driving and whose blood-alcohol content was 0.242, also told officers he had already spent 12 years in prison for drunken driving offenses "and wasn't going to fight anything asked of him," according to the police report. He was taken to the Lorain County Jail. Warner's prior convictions for drunken driving were felonies in Lorain County Common Pleas Court in February 2016, December 2011, September 2008, July 2000 and September 1999; misdemeanors in Elyria Municipal Court in December 1996 and July 1995; and a misdemeanor in Lorain Municipal Court in December 1994. The Ohio Department of Public Safety's habitual DUI offender public database also lists Warner as having drunken driving convictions in April 2015 and August 2014. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter.