Man Dies Following Crash With Ohio Police Cruiser

Dec. 2, 2012

A 78-year-old East Side driver died Friday after a collision with a Whitehall police cruiser that was headed to help other officers pursuing a suspect.

Vernon Lightle was driving north on Beechwood Road when his car and a police cruiser, driven by Officer Enrique Ortega, collided about 4:30 a.m.

Lightle probably was headed to Jolly Pirate Donuts on E. Broad Street, as he did every morning, said his daughter, Sharon Lightle.

Ortega was driving with lights and siren on and heading west on E. Main Street, said Sgt. Dan Kelso.

Ortega was trying to join a pursuit; it ended when the crash occurred. Lightle died a short time later at Grant Medical Center. Ortega suffered broken bones and internal injuries and was taken to Grant, where he is expected to survive.

Police still are looking for the suspect, Matthew S. Jones, 29. Kelso said Jones was calling and harassing an ex-girlfriend at a house on Washburn Street near Beechwood Road.

The woman had a protection order against Jones and called the police non-emergency line to report the threatening phone calls.

Officers went to the house and overheard some of the threatening calls, Kelso said. They staked out the house for about 25 minutes to see whether Jones would show up. When he did, they attempted to arrest him, but he fled.

"By the nature of his threats and what he was saying and his past history, we thought this could be a real threat," Kelso said.

Jones has been charged with failure to comply, violation of a protection order, aggravated menacing and domestic-violence threats, Kelso said.

Whitehall police had issued a warrant for Jones on Sunday for violating a protection order. The Franklin County sheriff's office filed a warrant for the same charge on Nov. 5, plus a warrant for domestic violence and assault on Oct. 25.

Jones has served two prison sentences in the past 10 years. He was released in 2003 after spending five months on a drug-trafficking conviction. He also was locked up for two months in 2010 for domestic violence.

Columbus police are assisting in the investigation of the crash. Information about how the collision occurred was not available yesterday.

Sgt. Jim Gilbert, president of Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge No. 9, said Whitehall police are allowed to pursue vehicles in situations such as this.

"This is clearly within the guidelines of the policy," he said.