A 27-year-old Cleveland man is being held without bond after leading Garfield Heights police on a chase in a stolen vehicle that ended with him ramming another car at a busy intersection. Daquan Martin was taken into custody after officers say he took increasingly dangerous and reckless actions to evade capture before his vehicle was finally disabled.
According to Cleveland 19 News, Garfield Heights officers spotted a stolen vehicle traveling south on Turney Road at 11:10 p.m. on Tuesday, August 19. The car had originally been reported stolen out of Cleveland Heights, according to the Garfield Heights Police Department. Turney Road also happens to be home to the department's own headquarters at 5555 Turney Road, meaning the pursuit kicked off just blocks from where officers are based.
Once officers attempted to stop the car, Martin took off, and the chase wound through Maple Heights before looping back into Garfield Heights, the station's report states. Police say Martin's driving grew more reckless as he tried to shake the pursuit, ultimately striking another vehicle at the intersection of Turney and McCracken roads. The occupants of that struck vehicle were unharmed, per the same account.
PIT Maneuvers Bring the Chase to a Stop
Officers used PIT maneuvers to help disable Martin's vehicle and end the pursuit, according to the report. Garfield Heights police receive specialized training in the Precision Immobilization Technique and have increasingly relied on pursuit-ending tools, including PIT maneuvers and Grappler bumper devices, to terminate dangerous chases, as reported by WKYC. The intersection where Martin's car was ultimately stopped has seen other serious traffic incidents before, including an overnight crash in January that closed Turney Road, according to Cleveland 19.
Once his vehicle was disabled, Martin was taken into custody. Police found he had active felony warrants out for his arrest, including one for a parole violation and another tied to a prior aggravated vehicular assault case. Cuyahoga County records show Martin was previously arrested in June on charges that included aggravated vehicular assault, though the specific circumstances of that earlier case were not detailed in police statements about Tuesday's arrest.
Charges Stack Up Under Ohio's Fleeing Statute
Martin now faces charges of felony fleeing and eluding, receiving stolen property, and numerous traffic violations, the station's report notes. Under Ohio Revised Code § 2921.331, fleeing and eluding a police officer escalates from a misdemeanor to a third-degree felony punishable by up to 36 months in prison when the driver creates a substantial risk of, or is the proximate cause of, serious physical harm to people or property. Judges weighing penalties under that statute are required to consider factors including the chase's duration, distance, speed, and any traffic control violations, according to Ohio law.
Martin is being held without bond, in part because of the outstanding felony warrants that predated Tuesday night's chase. The case adds to a string of vehicle theft cases Garfield Heights police have pursued this year; in July, the department reported seven arrests in a theft sweep, and officers used similar pursuit-ending tactics during a chase in March that Hoodline also covered.
A Local Chase Against a National Backdrop
Nationally, motor vehicle thefts have been trending sharply downward, falling 23% in 2025 to 659,880 stolen vehicles — a multi-decade low following a 17% drop the year before, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. That decline follows a period when Cuyahoga County saw its own surge, with car thefts doubling between 2022 and 2023 as the Cleveland metro area drove much of the increase, according to WKYC. Garfield Heights police continue to run proactive patrols and pursuit interventions along corridors like Turney Road even as the broader theft numbers ease.
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