More charges for man Elyria police said assaulted them following chase, crash on Nov. 5

An Elyria man shot and wounded by police after he allegedly led them on a chase, crashed his car, then drove another car through a garage door at officers is facing more than a dozen felony charges. Dorian Williams, 27, of Carol Lane, pleaded not guilty in Lorain County Common Pleas Court on Thursday to 16 felony charges and one misdemeanor charge in connection with a Nov. 5 incident in Elyria. The charges include felonious assault on a law enforcement officer, failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer, assault, having weapons under disability, improper handling of firearms in a motor vehicle, carrying a concealed weapon, receiving stolen property, vandalism, obstructing official business and fraudulent actions concerning a vehicle identification number. The misdemeanor charge is failure to stop after a crash. The case is assigned to Judge Melissa Kobasher's court. Defense attorney Mike Stepanik said Williams posted bond and was released from the Lorain County Jail on Friday night, but declined further comment on his client's case. Earlier reports said Williams is from Detroit, but common pleas court records give his address on Carol Lane in Elyria. The Lorain Police Department was tasked with conducting the investigation into the shooting, and further information came from a search warrant approved by Judge James Miraldi and unsealed last week in common pleas court. The search warrant gave Lorain police Capt. Mike Failing permission to get Williams' medical records from University Hospitals Elyria Medical Centera, and also gave additional details on the alleged crimes. Elyria police said the incident began when an officer on patrol near East Broad Street and South Abbe Road about 2:30 a.m. on Nov. 5 heard a car squealing its tires and the sound of "erratic driving." According to the search warrant, the officer found a red 2017 Dodge Charger with Michigan license plates in the parking lot of the Speedway at 990 E. Broad St. The license plates were registered to Williams, who soon after walked out of the store, crawled into the car through the passenger side then into the driver's seat. An officer tried to stop Williams, and the two had "an altercation ... which resulted in the driver taking off at a high rate of speed out of the Speedway with the officer hanging onto the vehicle," Failing wrote in the search warrant. In a news release following the incident, Elyria police said the officer who was dragged by the vehicle suffered minor injuries to his arm and knee, was transported to UH Elyria, treated and released. Williams allegedly ignored signals to stop, and led police on a chase down South Abbe Road that ended when he crashed into the Campanalie residence at Chestnut Ridge Road. He abandoned the car at the crash site, where officers later found ammunition and ID belonging to a Carol Lane woman. A check of police records also revealed Williams had fled the State Highway Patrol "in a similar manner in a prior incident," Failing wrote in the search warrant. Williams ran north from the crash to 520 Carol Lane, where officers "observed a male army-crawling through the front door and into the garage" then heard "a loud commotion" from inside the garage, Failing wrote. According to Failing's account, Williams tried to run out the back door of the house, saw police surrounding it, then ran back inside — but not before officers identified him as the same man who ran from them at Speedway. Officers called on Williams to surrender, then heard a car start in the garage and squealing tires. They moved a police cruiser in front of the garage, which is when Williams allegedly drove a black Dodge Charger with Michigan license plates through the garage door into the cruiser. "At this point, fearing for their safety, officers opened fire," Failing wrote. Still driving the car, Williams "went through the grass, crashed into an electrical box of some kind, then disabled the vehicle by driving over top a large boulder." Williams, who had been shot once, surrendered, was taken into custody, treated at UH Elyria and then transported to the Lorain County Jail. The officers who fired their guns during the incident were placed on paid administrative leave pending the results of an outside investigation by Lorain police. Multiple other agencies assisted Elyria police during the incident, the department said in its news release. Numerous cars have crashed into the Campanalie house at 39009 Chestnut Ridge Road — at least four times since 1993, when Dennis and Patricia Campanalie moved in. One crash killed two people in a car that struck the house on New Year's Day 2017. Dennis Campanalie recently asked Elyria City Council to buy his home and demolish it. More than 30 people showed up at the Nov. 27 Council meeting to support him and his family. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.