A Lakeview man faces a number of charges after he allegedly was involved in a domestic dispute Monday afternoon and later led deputies of the Logan County Sheriff’s Office on a chase through portions of Logan and Auglaize counties that evening while he was intoxicated.
After he was apprehended near his residence about 11 p.m., Kenneth E. McNeal, 50, of 10890 State St., Lakeview, was charged with failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer, aggravated menacing, resisting arrest and operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. He was lodged in the Logan County Jail.
Deputies were first dispatched to his address at 4:40 p.m. on a report of a man yelling and throwing items in a garage.
While speaking with the defendant in the garage area, deputies observed that he had a laceration on the back of his head with dried blood. He told deputies that his wife, Stephanie McNeal, 43, had hit him in the head with a frying pan.
Deputies also spoke with his wife, who said the couple had been arguing and Kenneth had punched cabinets and broke items inside the home. She said she had struck him with the frying pan.
Stephanie was placed under arrest at that time and was lodged in the jail. Kenneth was issued a summons for domestic violence and deputies left the residence.
However, they were called back to the area about 8:30 p.m. on a report of Kenneth striking his neighbor’s steps with an axe.
When deputies arrived, they were informed that the defendant had just left in a vehicle on westbound U.S. Route 33.
Deputies activated the overhead lights of the cruiser to attempt to stop the suspect vehicle, which then turned onto County Road 88 and then onto County Road 86, continuing into Auglaize County.
Kenneth then turned eastbound onto Goshen Road and deputies paced his vehicle at 56 miles per hour. While approaching a stop sign, deputies voiced commands over the cruiser’s intercom for the defendant to turn off the vehicle and step out, but he failed to comply.
The suspect then reportedly drove back to U.S. 33 eastbound and into Logan County. He then turned onto County Road 87. Deputies said the vehicle finally stopped in the area of Kenneth’s residence and he was ordered out of the vehicle at gunpoint.
Deputies observed that Kenneth had a strong odor of alcohol on his person. At the jail, he submitted to a breath test, with a result of 0.159 blood alcohol content.
Criminal damaging charges also have been sent to the Logan County Prosecutor’s Office for review for the damages caused to his neighbor’s property.