Crash killing 2 follows reported carjacking

Two people killed in a single-vehicle crash were carjacking suspects fleeing a Madison County deputy sheriff at a high rate of speed, the sheriff’s office and the Ohio Highway Patrol said Tuesday.

The sheriff’s office received a 911 call at 10:13 p.m. Monday from Harold Blazer of Circleville, who reported that he was the victim of a carjacking in Mount Sterling in which two people took his maroon 2008 Chevrolet Equinox SUV.

As one deputy sheriff responded to the scene to get more information, another deputy traveling south on state Route 56 toward the village was passed by a northbound vehicle that appeared to match the description of the stolen SUV.

The deputy turned around, and with emergency lights and sirens on, attempted to catch the SUV, the sheriff’s office said. The SUV accelerated dramatically, however, and the deputy was unable to catch up.

Soon afterward, the deputy found that the stolen SUV had gone off the left side of Route 56 just south of Moormon Road and struck a utility pole and a tree, apparently at high speed. A male and female had been ejected and were dead, the sheriff’s office said.

The sheriff’s office said the crash happened within a minute and a half of the deputy spotting the SUV.

Troopers with the patrol’s West Jefferson Post are investigating the crash, which occurred about eight miles north of Mount Sterling.

Chuck Tackett II, 20, of Washington Court House, was the driver of the SUV that had been reported stolen, the patrol said. His passenger was Dominique L. Sims, 32, of New Holland. Neither had been wearing a seat belt, the patrol said.