A Savannah man who crashed a stolen pickup into a Savannah-Chatham police patrol car, narrowing missing the officer standing beside it, lost his struggle with a police canine Tuesday and faces nine charges.
Romell Stephens, 24, of a Hazel Street address, was taken into custody after police said he disobeyed an order to stop by a police canine officer and sustaining several bites by K-9 Flash.
He has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault, theft by receiving, reckless driving, three charges of leaving the scene of an accident, improper lane usage, and operating a vehicle without a valid driver’s license.
Undercover officers had followed a black Chevrolet pickup that had been reported stolen earlier in the night from the 2100 block of East 60th St. until it stopped in front of a house on Tall Pine Drive. When the driver exited the truck, marked units moved in to secure it and Stephens re-entered the truck and drove it into the side of a patrol car, ripping off the door and narrowing missing the officer standing beside it, police said.
Once colliding with the police car, the truck moved slowly and erratically, striking a brick mailbox and stopping in the yard of a house on North Fernwood Drive. The driver then fled on foot until meeting up with the police dog. Once in custody, police located a knife and a leafy substance they determined to be marijuana.
Stephens was taken to Memorial University Medical Center for treatment and then to the Chatham County jail.