Crime & Safety

Suspect Falls Into Frozen Lake While Running From Police: Best of the Blotter

Here are some of the most interesting police reports and incidents from departments across the region.

Here are this week's most bizarre police calls, reports and charges. All information was provided by police reports from departments in Patch communities. Where arrests or charges are mentioned, it does not indicate a conviction. 

Watch out for that first step, it's a doozy!

Shaker Heights police saved the life of a fleeing suspect when he fell through the ice on Green Lake on Feb. 5.

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At about 9 p.m. Tuesday, a Shaker Heights officer pulled over Vertell Pruitt, 22, of Cleveland Heights, for running a red light, police Lt. Jeffrey DeMuth said.

Pruitt stopped his car and fled. Officers chased him and followed his footprints to Green Lake.

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Pruitt was trying to flee over the frozen lake, but the ice was not thick enough to support him, so he fell through.

Several officers came to his rescue and pulled him onto shore. He was treated at University Hospitals for extreme hypothermia, DeMuth said.

Pruitt recovered. He was charged with obstructing official business, ignoring a red light and driving without a license.

Coke dealer hangs it up

An accused coke dealer confirmed Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh’s suspicions when he admitted to being, well, a coke dealer midway through his trial on Feb. 5.

pleaded guilty to trafficking in cocaine, a first-degree felony; tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony; and failure to comply, a first-degree misdemeanor, according to April Wiesner, chief spokeswoman of the Summit County Prosecutor's Office. 

The charges stem from a September 2011 incident in which Akron police interrupted a coke deal in a Bath Township parking lot.

Fair fled in his Audi, taking Interstate 77 northbound. As he made the turn onto the Wheatley Road exit, Fair lost control of his car and flew airborne into a Richfield resident’s backyard, said Wiesner.

He was found hiding under a small bridge, clutching $47,000 in cash with bones protruding from his foot.

Snowplow scam artist caught in the act

, was arrested in Bath Township last weekend after allegedly conning several area gas stations out of hundreds of dollars.

According to Bath Police Chief Michael McNeely, Agresta would pull up to gas stations in a snowplow truck, show fake invoices to clerks and demand payment for work he never completed.

When Agresta attempted the scam at a True North Shell station on Feb. 3, the attendant grew suspicious and alerted Bath poilce. 

Agresta was charged with attempted theft, a second-degree misdemeanor.

He's suspected of committing the same scam in Lakewood and Solon. 


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