Jury deliberating on whether man drove fleeing car
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YOUNGSTOWN -- A jury deliberated through the afternoon Tuesday on whether Da'Qwann R. Henderson, 25, of Youngstown, was the driver who fled from police June 18, 2022.
Henderson's trial on felony failure to comply with the order of a police officer began Monday. It will resume this morning with more deliberations in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. If convicted, Henderson could get several years in prison.
During testimony Tuesday, the two adults left behind in the car and a Youngstown police officer testified. An Ohio State Highway Patrol officer also testified as the first witness Monday afternoon. Judge Anthony D'Apolito is presiding over the trial.
The lead vehicle in the chase was an Ohio State Highway Patrol vehicle containing a state trooper and a Youngstown officer. Youngstown officer Zach Scott was in a Youngstown police cruiser that was assisting. Both cruisers were chasing a Chrysler 300 on Youngstown's North Side, sometimes at high speeds.
Scott said his cruiser was one street over from the trooper's vehicle, which was right behind the Chrysler. Eventually the Chrysler stopped, and the Youngstown cruiser stopped behind it on Raymond Street, west of Belmont Avenue. Scott got out of the passenger side and spoke briefly to the two adults inside the Chrysler. Then Scott took off on foot after the driver.
Shaniera Dabney was in the back seat, and Charles Perry was in the front passenger seat. Two children also were in the vehicle.
Dabney told Scott that Henderson had been driving but he "ran away," Scott testified. Scott and other officers looked for Henderson for about a half an hour but did not find him, Scott said. Scott spoke to an older man who lived nearby and said he saw a male exit the Chrysler 300.
No weapons or drugs were found in the car, Scott said. Scott was wearing a body camera, and it showed Scott doing what he said he did.
Dabney, 24, also testified, saying she has four children, one of them with Perry. She said Henderson is a friend of Perry's. All three of them stayed at Perry's home the night before the chase.
On June 18, 2022, Henderson asked to be taken to the store, but neither Perry or Dabney had a driver's license, said Dabney, who owns the Chrysler 300.
Dabney said that on the way to the store, they got into a "high speed chase" with police officers behind her car. She estimated the top speed to have been about 100 miles per hour. Henderson was disobeying traffic laws by not stopping at stop signs and traffic lights and driving on the wrong side of the road.
She said the reason he was running from police was that he "had a gun on him," she said. She and Perry asked him to slow down, she said. At some point, Henderson "got out of the car and ran," she said. The police car was behind the Chrysler soon after the Chrysler stopped, she said.
Perry, 24, testified that he and Henderson were friends who had grown up together. Perry described the chase by saying the music in the car was loud, and Perry only realized that the police were chasing them when he saw the police lights. Perry turned off the music so he could better tell what was happening.
Perry said he told Henderson to stop the car. He added that the police were there to look for the driver of the car "a couple of seconds" after Henderson stopped the car. He said he provided the police with a photo of Henderson that he found on the internet to identify the driver.
The defense did not call any witnesses.
In closing arguments, defense attorney Aaron Meikle alleged that Dabney was driving the car and moved from the driver's seat to the back seat after the car came to a stop. Meikle is a former Mahoning County assistant prosecutor.
erunyan@vindy.com