Two truckers lent a hand to police Friday, Dec. 6, as officers pursued a car fleeing at speeds up to 110 mph down an Ohio interstate.

WEWS television of Cleveland reported that the chase started when police pulled a car over on I-90 in Willoughby Hills. The driver, rather than stopping, took off.

Sgt. Brian Jackson of the Willoughby Hills Police Department said that started a chase that ran from the 192 mile marker on the interstate nearly 30 miles, to the 220 mile marker on the east side of Geneva, OH.

Once the pursuit started, the men in blue decided to call in the cavalry.

"A couple of our cruisers have CBs in them," Jackson said. "As a matter of fact, one of them is the chief's car."

The chief, who was on his way to work as the chase was under way, called truckers in the area, asking if they could lend a hand. Two truckers responded by trying to set up a "rolling road block" using two, slow-moving side-by-side trucks.

"It actually ended up not working," Jackson said. "A four-wheeler ended up slowing one of the trucks down, so the two trucks couldn't get side-by-side."

The suspect was able to get around the trucks, and continued down the highway another 15 miles before law-enforcement officers were able to bring him to a halt.

The television station reported that the car moved onto the shoulder and sped past slower vehicles in an apparent attempt to avoid capture. Finally, an officer placed three "stop sticks" on the freeway. The car swerved, but the driver lost control, and the vehicle slid into the median and flipped over, ending the chase.

Although the truckers' idea didn't entirely pan out, it was still helpful.

"They did slow it down a little bit for us, and actually kind of allowed our guys to catch up," Jackson said. "It did work out pretty well."

The idea of calling on truckers for help isn't a new one in Willoughby Hills.

"We used to call truckers about a lot of stuff like that before; we just haven't done it lately," Jackson said. "In the past, most of our cars used to have CBs, but a lot of them stopped functioning."

The chief has one of the force's older cars, which still has a working CB. That gave him the ability to call for help from the drivers.

Although local police were grateful, they didn't even know the two truckers' names. The chase continued for another 15 miles, and officers lost track of the two drivers.

WEWS television identified the driver of the car as Robert Crosier, 32, the son of a Lake County deputy sheriff. Crosier faces several charges, the station said, but the exact charges were not yet available.

--By Mark H. Reddig, associate editor