Dayton man in police chase who stole car at knifepoint gets 4 years

A Dayton man who used a butcher knife to steal a car and later fled from police during an 11-minute pursuit is headed to prison.

Christopher Ray Palmer, 35, was sentenced Tuesday by Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Elizabeth Ellis to four years in prison after he pleaded guilty Oct. 15 to robbery and failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer. As a result of his plea, one count of aggravated robbery was dismissed, according to court documents.

Palmer, while armed with a butcher knife, demanded keys around noon Aug. 13 from a man getting out of his car in the 1900 block of Wayne Avenue in Dayton. The other man tried to fight back and ended up with his back on the ground with Palmer over him and a cut to his arm, according to an affidavit filed in Dayton Municipal Court.

Christopher Palmer

Credit: Montgomery County Jail

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Credit: Montgomery County Jail

“During the struggle, (the man) dropped his keys and Palmer picked them up,” the affidavit stated. “While Palmer was trying to start the vehicle, (the man) approached Palmer in the driver seat and sliced him in the face in an attempt to get him to stop taking his vehicle.”

Police spotted the stolen car around 3:10 p.m. but Palmer fled a traffic stop, leading to an approximately 11-minute pursuit.

Cruiser camera footage showed Palmer weaving through traffic during the pursuit, at one point narrowly missing a school bus turning at an intersection and clipping the mirror of another car.

The chase ended when an officer used a precision immobilization technique. The cruiser camera footage showed the pursuing officer push the back corner of the stolen vehicle with the nose of the cruiser, knocking it out of control before the car stopped.

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