[Music] Who is it? No. He's taking off. He's taking off. He's taking off. He's taking off. Monday, April 21st, 2025, Chilikothy, Ohio. After spotting a vehicle with illegally tinted windows on 7th Street, officers initiated a traffic stop to issue a warning and understand why the windows were so darkly tinted. It was a calm day and everything appeared routine, but the officers didn't know what they were walking into and the truth that would soon unravel. I'm Tyler and this is your daily dose of crime. How you doing, man? How you doing? Not too bad. The reason for the stop is the window tent. I'm sure you probably think that's why, but driver's license on you. How you doing, little girl? Not a girl. Oh, I'm sorry, little boy. I saw long hair and I can't see back here. So, you get the registration insurance, man. Um, I don't not on Okay. Registration in there or anything? Where you heading to, by the way, man? Uh, we was just headed to McDonald's to get some ice cream. Okay. Where you living at? South Walnut. Yeah. Okay. I just live right down the street. That's it. You said just heading to McDonald's real quick. I got you, buddy. Anything illegal in the court today, man? It shouldn't be any narcotics. What is it? Any narcotics or anything? Uh, just this bad. I wor about No. No. No guns? No. Okay. Anytime for me. Okay. The driver, identified as Richard Johnson, was calm during the initial interaction and provided the necessary documents. However, one thing stood out. He appeared noticeably nervous and hesitant when asked to retrieve his vehicle registration and proof of insurance. Due to his suspicious behavior, the officer called for backup and requested a K-9 unit to help inspect the vehicle and cover all the bases. But those plans were quickly thrown off course. Good. Yeah. Um the juveniles out here. They're basically standing there. That's what they need. No, no, no. Started walking away. But um I started yellow had anything just reach for it. Look like a little blue baggie. He's like, "Oh, no. I'll go some. I ain't worried about that, man." He just seems to be a little bit nervous. I don't know if it's just history or whatever. I never Yeah. Yo, who is it? No, I'll I'll be his cover. I got you, man. He's taking off. He's taking off. He's taking off. He's taking off. As one of the officers approaches the vehicle with the K-9 to begin the check, Johnson suddenly hits the gas and speeds away from the scene. A pursuit begins and the main concern for law enforcement wasn't just catching Johnson, but it was the fact that a child was inside the vehicle and the high risk of a crash would potentially be devastating. Would the police be able to stop him in time? [Music] South [Music] Bridge Street now. Show me your hands. Hands out the window. Where's it at now? Felony stop on noise. Felony stop on noise. Show me your hands. Open the door. Open the door. Open the door with your with your right hand. Open door. Face away from me. Face away from me. Walk backwards. Walk backwards. Walk backwards. Walk backwards. On your knees. On your knees. Face down. Face down. Face down. Face down. right now. I'm coming. What are you doing, dude? Huh? What are you doing, man? I just got scared, man. In the car. I got wrong with you. I got scared, dude. Well, now you're going to hell. Hey. Hey. It's okay, buddy. What's your name, dude? You good? You scared? It's all right, buddy. What's going on today, man? You just riding around you. Is it? Who is this? Dad. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, it's okay, buddy. All right. Here, I'll searching for you. Come back here. I need some room. Fa face the cruiser. The chase wound through multiple residential streets. And according to police reports, Johnson ignored all stop signs and reached speeds of up to 60 mph before finally coming to a stop on Nolles Avenue where officers quickly surrounded the car. As one of the officers placed Johnson in handcuffs, the young child inside the vehicle broke into uncontrollable sobs, clearly terrified by what had just happened. Johnson, showing no concern for his 5-year-old son, had chosen to flee without hesitation, indifferent to the trauma he was causing. He was only focused on avoiding whatever consequences might come if officers discovered what was hidden inside the car. So, what was really going on? Why'd you run when the dog showed up? Huh? Why'd you run when the canine showed up? What? I didn't feel Stop. Stop. Please don't do that. Stop pulling away. Please. Can you fix the cuffs, though? Please We will. You just ran from us. It's a felony. We're making sure you're not armed. I'm sorry, man. Yeah. Tell you to comply, man. Come on, man. What do you mean come on? How old your kid in a car? I'm sorry. How old is your kid in a car? Child endangerment. Clean and looting. Man, what is that? Is that unreasonable in your eyes? You going to get You think you're going to get a different answer from somebody else out here? Cuz you're not. So, you might as well quit looking around. Can I please make sure that your feet? Yeah, he's already been search. I'm just checking his ghost. Okay. Can you get the rest calls? You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say? Attorney attorney will be appointed for you. You're looking to have the attorney present any questioning. Refuse to answer questions now. You have the right to stop any time. You understand that? You understand your rights? Yeah. Okay. What's going on, dude? Back right here. What's going on, man? You know what that was going to be? A simple warning for traffic for window tank. Man, but you scared me, man. How did that scare you? What interaction scared you? Did the canine showing up scare you? Yeah. Okay. What's in the car? Nothing's in the car, man. The canine scared just showing up and you took off because you had nothing in the car. No, because man, what was in the car? No, I just had a flashback, man. I I did some time and I wouldn't think if you know you're if you know you're clean and you're valid. I got a good ass job and everything, man. Man, please. A reasonable person would would risk that. I'm not working with you. Absolutely not. You want to run with your kids in your car? Absolutely not. No, absolutely not. Have a seat. Have a seat. I got scared. What do you mean you were making money in the wagon? What were you making money in the wagon doing? Well, saving money to be helpful. S You were making money to be helpful. Well, that's cool. What were you uh what were you doing with the wagon? Were you like loading trash in the wagon or something? loading. I have my kids load sticks up in a wagon. Who's this guy? Huh? Who's this guy? He's my boyfriend. Okay. Pretty one. He just took off with this kid in the car. Took us on a pursuit. So, what's uh what's your name? Jessica Hawk. I have my ID. Jessica Hawk. Can I see it? Yes. Can you just give it to him? Hey, buddy. I'm going to shut this door for a little bit. Okay. Hey, do you know her Jessica? Is that his when you were talking about his wife? Okay. Gotcha. All right. Just hang out, buddy. After failing to give a reasonable explanation for his attempt to flee, Johnson was placed under arrest and taken to a patrol car so that officers could begin a thorough search of the vehicle and try to uncover what he was so desperate to hide. Suspicion was warranted and officers were determined to get to the bottom of it. chances if you want whoever good go ahead and we're running her but to get the kid out of the car and at least give it to I want to try to drive around the track and make sure cuz I lost him there when he turned on no for about a second so I don't know if he thought yeah he so he he took off on null I saw him go I saw you go up nulls and then McCoy kept going and then said he's south on bridge I saw him like no no no I'm trying to call the phone and stop I'm like we're okay we have a 21 what hey can I please text my No, absolutely not. Can I talk to my girlfriend after I ran with my kids in my car? Yeah, buddy. Let me get the He's getting charged for child endangerment, honestly. You okay? You okay? Good. What's um What's his first name? Oh, there's a couple. There's a couple. Good boys. Good boys. Oh yeah. Here's a good boy right here. Load up. Oh yeah, good stuff. Where do you Where do you seem to be interested in? Driver side. Good deal. White powder. Okay, cool. Yeah, a bunch of white powder. You think it's cut or you think it's I don't know. It says smart shake, so I don't know what I don't know what that would be. He's been random. on my initial. Hey, Seismore. It was It was okay. Well, I'm just What is this? Creatine. Is it cut? No, it's creatine. I work out, man. Look at me, man. Come on. Nothing but workout stuff in there, man. I had an ounce of man. That's why you ran cuz you had an ounce of you know you can have two ounces on you. And it's legal. I didn't know that. Where's the at? It's in the car. Why' the dog indicate? I don't indicate, man. I don't have Man, you know where I work at? Man, I don't sell drugs at all. I didn't say you sell drugs. I don't sell drugs. I said the dog indicator, man. I didn't say nothing about selling drugs. Nothing like that would even be in my bro. Because I man cuz you got an ounce. Yeah. Where's the ounce at? It's not in that little blue chew bag you showed me or that. I know it's in it's in the side. Okay. What? Driver side. No. Yeah, it's on the side of the seat. All right, man. But that's all I got, man. All right, man. Hang tight for me. But can you do me a favor, please? Can you please crack the window for me? Absolutely. While taking statements from the child and his mother, who is also Johnson's girlfriend, the canine alerted to the presence of drugs inside the car. Officers then proceeded with a detailed search. And amongst the items found, one officer approached Johnson holding a black container full of white powder. Johnson quickly claimed it was creatine and denied any involvement with either using or trafficking. His story, however, didn't add up. If that were true, then why run? He said, it's it's it's a creatine. Hopefully. He He said there's an Look at the ignition. Think this might be a stola. Look at the key. What's Oh, this dash cam. Oh, he even he even recorded his own pursuit. That's nice. Did you find an ounce of you allegedly ran for? Uh there there's some here. Yeah. Okay. Like it was on Okay. He said I ran cuz I had an ounce. One George, one one five Sam Edward Frank. Where is it at underneath? Right here. Let him look at it. Looks like Oh, we woke up. That's You know what that is? What? Those are ashes. Okay. He's saying those are his dad's ashes. And a Ziploc baggie. Where were they at? Stuffed down in the uh little pull down compartment there by the We dude your word. I cannot mathematically equate to how little your word means. You can promise all you want and I don't give a How do you get in the trunk? Can you read us if anything came back 11? Just um hold the black button right on the back. Hey. Hey officer, I promise on everything I left. Can you please not disrespect those? Those really hurt. If if anybody was disrespecting alleged ashes, man, it's you. It's in a zip-off baggie stuffed inside beside the steering wheel. I No disrespect, but I mean, you want to say you don't want to tell us to disrespect the ashes. I I wouldn't have somebody stuffed in a in a in a by your center console of your car in a ziplockc baggie, man. I know. I have I was getting necklaces made with this. I I I understand, but we're not disrespected. It's on It's on the hood of your car. Okay. Um you say hold down a black button. Where's the black button at? Right on the back on the right side of the trunk. Yeah. I got you. [Music] How's that dash cam work, man? As far as what? Like, does it save? What's it say on? Is it Bluetooth? Is it I mean, what is it? Um, it just loops like every five minutes or whatever. Okay. Okay. You being real about wanting to work, man? If you work with me, man, come on, man. I that's that's going to be that's going to be some work. I know. Okay. And I'm trying to be honest, man. But what I I appreciate I think you're about I think you're like I said like I said listen to me when when I told you here about 20 minutes ago. I said I believe the part that you ran with the canine. Right. Obviously there was other half to that that we just located. Right. We didn't run because we had an I told you this ain't my first day, man. This ain't your first day. I know you ain't running over no ounce of All right. Now we're over that. Okay. If you're one more, that's going to be some work. I'm telling you, giving giving giving us two names of known dealers is not going to be give you more than I know. I know what you have. I got you. Hey, Seismore. When you get the chance, can you come over here? Yeah. Later in the search, officers discovered a sealed bag containing a brown powder. Johnson was questioned again and insisted multiple times that it contained his father's ashes. The entire situation grew more strange by the minute. None of Johnson's statements lined up with his behavior. Because if the ashes were really his father and the white powder really just creatine, then why go to such extremes? Officers were giving him a chance to come clean and what happened next would depend entirely upon his choices. You ever worked before? Not bad. Okay. Where where at? Up north or something. Um he just he said he was willing to work too. So I he gave me Trey. Give me two names. I said, "Bro," I said, "Give me two names. I've known it's not it's not working." I said, "But if you want to work," I said, "That's why have to do some work. You have to work off work." But I don't know if you just want to react to the steel or what, but yeah. vegetable. All right, man. So, now that we're being a bit honest now, how we played the game, you said you're willing to work cuz you're I know ain't no you're right now. I mean, well, lack of better words, I don't know how to say it. something way better than I want to off. Okay. Well, I promise that. How about you rattle off just off top of your head who you could help us get like who trusts you? Who who would serve you? Who would who would you buy off of? Brown. All right, that's a good start. Yeah, that's a good start. That's fine. A few few dudes from Columbus, but I know they're down here, but I would prefer like I'm just going to go off. I'm not doing anything off here. Yep. After several minutes, Johnson finally admitted to throwing cocaine out of the car during the pursuit, and officers began searching along Nolles Avenue and recovered a large plastic bag containing what appeared to be narcotics in the grass. In total, they recovered paraphernelia and $400 in cash. Richard Johnson, age 38, would be arrested and taken to the Ross County Jail on charges of failure to comply with a lawful order, child endangerment, and possession. Additional charges include tampering with evidence and trafficking.