SIDNEY – Jacob Cornett thought the biggest adrenaline rush he would get Monday evening would be scaring his mom, but that excitement was eclipsed by a foot chase and the apprehension of a suspected hit-and-run driver.
Cornett enlisted the help of a friend, Darin Santos, to help him scare his mom, Michel Spradlin, at her home on Spruce Avenue. After the Halloween high jinks, they all were chatting inside her house when they heard a car zoom past at a high rate of speed.
The car, which Cornett estimated was going 70 mph in a 25 mph zone, smashed into a parked car that then hit another car. Fearing that someone was injured, Cornett and Santos rushed down the street and found other witnesses arguing with the driver. The man then took off on foot, and Cornett chased him.
“Immediately the initial reaction was just to hurry up and get down there and make sure everybody was OK,” Cornett said. “But I definitely wasn’t going to let him get away.”
It took about half a block for Cornett – still in his Halloween costume minus the mask – to chase down the driver and tackle him. Santos then caught up and helped restrain the man.
“We wrestled him down to the ground and basically forced him to stay on the ground until the cops arrived,” Cornett said.
Officers from the Sidney Police Department then arrived to take the driver into custody and perform sobriety tests.
“They said we’re still hiring if you want a job,” Cornett said. “I thought that was funny.”
Cornett, the owner of JC’s Barber Shop on Wapakoneta Avenue in Sidney, said he previously considered entering law enforcement. However, he decided against that career path because he views police as underpaid and underappreciated.
The Sidney resident did enjoy his brief foray into chasing down suspects, though.
“It was quite eventful,” Cornett said. “It was an adrenaline rush.”
