Police: Man guzzled 2 bottles of Fireball before pursuit that closed Big Mac bridge
A Northern Kentucky man broke in and stole two large bottles of Fireball from a liquor store, chugged them in the parking lot and led police on a chase that briefly closed the Interstate 471 bridge overnight.
Bellevue Police say 47-year-old Mclean Morris, of Bellevue, drove his sedan into the front of One Stop Liquors on Donnermeyer Drive about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday morning.
Morris got out of his car and walked into the store, stealing two 1.75 liter bottles of Fireball cinnamon whiskey, sometimes called "handles" and a couple packs of cigarettes, Bellevue Police Chief Jon McClain said.
Morris guzzled both bottles of whiskey in the parking lot before taking off, McClain said.
Officers responded to the liquor store overnight and watched surveillance footage of the break-in with the store's owner. It wasn't Bellevue Police's first run-in with Morris and officers were able to identify him in the video.
"The department's been dealing with him for years," McClain said.
Northern Kentucky police from Bellevue, Fort Thomas, Dayton and Newport went to Morris's home on Division Street, but he was not there.
As officers were speaking with neighbors, they spotted Morris driving by on Lafayette Avenue in the car used for the liquor store burglary.
Officers demanded that Morris exit the car, but he refused, instead ramming into a Newport police cruiser and several other neighbors' cars with his vehicle.
Morris then drove at several officers, forcing them to take cover, the department said in a news release. He took off through the neighborhood on the sidewalk and fled north on Washington.
Police pursued Morris at "low speeds" onto the I-471 bridge, also known at the Big Mac bridge. Morris stopped his car at the bridge and shouted profanities at officers for an extended time, leading police to close the bridge, the news release says.
As Morris was stopped, officers placed spike strips under the tires of his car in case he took off again. And Morris did.
The spikes deflated one of his front tires as Morris continued into downtown Cincinnati.
Cincinnati Police began pursuing Morris with Northern Kentucky officers and stopped him at 3rd and Broadway, where he was taken into custody.
Morris faces several charges from Bellevue Police, including burglary, criminal mischief, wanton endangerment, fleeing and evading, among others.
Additional charges are expected to be filed by Cincinnati police, McClain said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: NKY police chase closed Big Mac bridge briefly Wednesday
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