TOLEDO -- News 11 has obtained far more detailed video of Saturday's high-speed chase than was previously available. Click on the video link to see chilling new footage of the hot pursuit captured on a Bowling Green Police Department dash cam.
At first, it looked like the incident might be over almost as soon as it began. Suspect Danti Henry entered the on-ramp to I-75 in Bowling Green, then soon pulled over to the side of the road. But surrender wasn't in the cards, at least for him. His female passenger, Barbara Jean Clark, got out of the minivan -- but then Henry was off and running again.
Caught on video is Clark's surrender and arrest as troopers tell her put down the purse she carried, turn away from the officers, and put her hands in the air. We see Clark escorted back to the police vehicle by officers.
But the chase was far from over. There's also video of Henry continuing to race southbound on I-75 toward his death just forty miles away. We see him weave in and out of traffic, with police vehicles from multiple agencies blocking some of his moves and closing in on him as he squeezes between two semi trucks.
Speeds clocked on the video climb to over 100 MPH as Henry continues his reckless thrust toward death. At one point, he swings left and does a semi-circle across the median that cuts I-75's southbound and northbound lanes in half. He heads north, then repeats the daring slice across the median to pull back into the southbound lane. It's a heart-in-your-throat ride and you'll see it all unfold in News 11's amazing video.
If you've followed this story, you know that it all began in the BMV office in Bowling Green on Saturday morning. Danti Henry presented bogus documentation when trying to obtain a new ID card. A police officer was summoned, there was a scuffle, and Henry fired a shot inside the building. He then took off, leaving the BMV and getting into his minivan where Barbara Jean Clark was waiting for him.
The pursuit was on from that point forward all the way to Bluffton forty miles down the road, ending when police put down stop sticks that flattened the minivan's tires. Henry pulled into a Sterling Stores gas station parking lot, jumped from his minivan with a gun in each hand and wearing a bulletproof vest. He fired wildly as he headed for a vehicle belonging to a Canadian couple that had stopped to put gas in their car. The husband was pumping gas while his wife waited in the vehicle, and there she sat when the suspect tried to slip into the driver's seat. He and the troopers exchanged fire and the suspect was shot dead. The woman suffered a superficial wound in the incident.
Two Ohio State troopers were injured in the shootout. Walbridge-based Trooper Chuck Gizzard, 37, was shot in the hand and is off-duty due to his injuries. Findlay-based Trooper Albert Leitenberger, 47, is still in St. Rita Medical Center in Lima. He was shot in the arm, and underwent a second surgery Monday. The injury was called fairly serious. "He's been able to move his fingers, and that's encouraging," said Captain Richard Collins of the Ohio State Highway Patrol. "His doctors tell him that's encouraging."
Officials tell News 11 that Barbara Jean Clark is six months pregnant. There's no word on what the Michigan woman's relationship was with Henry. She's being held on a charge of conspiracy to commit robbery.
Authorities are puzzled as to why this whole ordeal happened. The Hancock County Prosecutor says by law they must treat Henry's death as a homicide. "It will be submitted to the Hancock grand jury. I think the tape is pretty evident in terms of why the officers acted in the way and fashion they did," said Robert Fry, the Hancock County Prosecutor.
Count on News 11 to follow this case as it develops.
