Officer breaks leg after semitruck driver accused of stalking person at IHOP flees traffic stop

AKRON, Ohio (WOIO/Gray News) - An officer broke his leg while trying to apprehend a truck driver who fled a traffic stop after allegedly stalking a person at IHOP.

Jeffrey Latson, 34, was charged with three felonies and a misdemeanor for the incident that happened in Springfield, Ohio. Latson is from Georgia.

Authorities said it all started at an IHOP where Latson was allegedly making threats.

Officers tried to remove Latson from the cab of his semitruck, but he drove away. One officer suffered a concussion and a broken leg during the confrontation.

“It’s disturbing that his thought was just to leave the area after pushing our officer out of the vehicle, clearly the officer’s injured, that he had no regard for the officer’s safety. And that was our concern about being on the highway,” Springfield Township Police Chief Jack Simone said.

Latson then took police on a pursuit that traveled through two communities.

Latson was allegedly in the cab of the semitruck when he left the IHOP, but at some point during the pursuit he hitched a trailer that may have been stolen.

Authorities were alerted and located Latson in another parking lot later, but he fled again.

Lieutenant Michael Murphy, a public information officer with Akron police, said Latson allegedly hit several cruisers and other vehicles during the pursuit.

When officers encountered him again, they fired “multiple shots, striking him at least once.”

Latson was treated at the hospital and is in police custody.

He is charged with felonious assault, willful fleeing, obstruction of official business and aggravated menacing.