Suspect in Nov. fatal pursuit arrested
One of two men MORAINE — arrested during a standoff at the Knights Inn on Dryden Road early Monday morning was the driver in a fatal pursuit less than two miles away from the hotel last month, according to police and public records.
Michael Wade, 27, was arrested around 2 a.m. at the hotel in the 2400 block of Dryden Road, Moraine police said. He’s being held on a parole violation and a weapons charge in the Montgomery County Jail.
Police say Wade was the driver in a fatal pursuit that killed Leonard James, 30, of Dayton. A 16-year-old girl also was injured in the crash.
Jamal Johnson Jr., 30, also was arrested at the hotel following the standoff. Johnson is booked into jail for a parole violation and a weapons violation, records show.
Police were on patrol near the Knights Inn around 9:30 p.m. Sunday when officers spotted a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot, said Sgt. Jon Spencer with the Moraine Police Department.
Investigators saw the people in the vehicle get out and go into the hotel to a room, Spencer said.
“As (officers) approached the room, they were confronted by a 15-year-old juvenile that said she was being held against her will,” Spencer said. “She appeared to be shaken, scared and obviously nervous.”
Officers said they saw evidence of drug trafficking, drug use and weapons inside the car when they looked in the windows.
No one answered at the hotel room door when police attempted to contact the people inside, Spencer said.
Because of the weapons in the vehicle, police contacted a SWAT team to assist in taking the two men into custody.
Police said they are “very familiar” with one of the two men arrested, Spencer said.
Wade has not been charged in the November fatal pursuit, court records show.