Elyria man charged with ramming car into Bell Avenue house after argument

ELYRIA — A 19-year-old Elyria man was arrested Thursday after police said he crashed a car into a house on Bell Avenue after an argument with one of the residents. Haulus Dean Jr. of Fuller Road is charged with felonious assault, felony vandalism and operating a vehicle in willful or wanton disregard of the safety of persons or property, according to an Elyria police report. He was being held in Lorain County Jail on more than $30,000 bond following an arraignment in Elyria Municipal Court on Friday. According to Elyria police, officers responded to a traffic crash at 538 Bell Ave. just before 3 p.m. Thursday after a black Chevrolet Impala repeatedly rammed the house before fleeing on state Route 57 toward West River Road North. Two people, including the homeowner and Dean's 16-year-old girlfriend, were inside the house when Dean hit it with the car, witnesses said. An officer found the car stopped at a red light at West River Road North and Dean, who was driving, was taken into custody. The car's owner, 45-year-old Alex Santo Domingo of Lorain, told police that Dean had broken the front left headlight on the car after borrowing it and the two argued over the damage. Dean then started breaking things inside the house before Santo Domingo chased him off with a baseball bat, police learned. Dean got into the Impala and drove it through the front yard and into the house at least three times before driving off, according to police. Santo Domingo suffered some scratches and cuts on his hands and was taken to University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center for treatment, police said. The house suffered "significant damage" with its south wall pushed in. A fence and windows also were broken, and there was damage to items inside the house, police reported; a restoration company was called to board up the house. Dean's girlfriend told police she had run away from her home in Cleveland and had been staying with Dean at the Bell Avenue house since at least March 29. Her parents were notified to pick her up from the Elyria Police Department, police said.