A 41-year-old Strasburg man is dead after fleeing a Massillon police traffic stop early Friday and crashing several miles away in Tuscarawas Township. Shawn Honaker was identified as the driver of a 2007 Cadillac DTS and was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.
According to The Canton Repository, Massillon police attempted to stop Honaker's Cadillac at 12:30 a.m. near 17th Street SW and Finefrock Road SW. A separate account from jordanmiller.news places the attempted stop near the intersection of 17th Street SW and Finerock Road SW at roughly the same time. Authorities said the driver fled the area at a high rate of speed rather than stopping for officers.
Vehicle Found Crashed in Tuscarawas Township
Officers pursuing the Cadillac eventually located it crashed in the 4600 block of Carmont Avenue SW in Tuscarawas Township, per the Canton Repository's report. The outlet described the wreck as a single-vehicle crash and said no other injuries were reported beyond Honaker's death. The other report, however, stated that authorities had not released additional details about what caused the crash or whether any other vehicles were involved, leaving that detail unresolved between the two accounts.
The Stark County Sheriff's Office identified the driver as Shawn Honaker, 41, of Strasburg, and confirmed he was pronounced dead at the scene, the same report notes. The Canton Metro Crash Team, Brewster Fire Department and Stark County Coroner's Office all responded to assist at the crash site, according to the Canton Repository's account.
Investigation Continues Into What Led to the Crash
The crash remains under investigation by the Stark County Sheriff's Office and the Canton Metro Crash Team, the earlier-cited report states. No further details about the cause of the crash, the length of the pursuit, or Honaker's speed at the time of impact have been made public.
Fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer after receiving a signal to stop is addressed under Ohio law, which prohibits operating a motor vehicle to willfully elude or flee an officer following such a signal, according to the Ohio Revised Code. The statute's full scope of penalties was not detailed in the available excerpt.
Fatal crashes tied to fleeing drivers are not unique to Stark County. In a separate incident reported elsewhere in Ohio, an SUV fleeing deputies caused a head-on collision that killed two people and critically injured a child, according to cleveland.com. No connection between that case and Honaker's crash has been established.
