Dash and body camera footage reveals what troopers were up against in last week’s Ohio-Pennsylvania chase

New police body and dash camera video shows what state troopers in Pennsylvania and Ohio were up against in last week’s chase down the turnpike. 

The chase occurred last Friday when police said a man stole an Ohio State Trooper’s car and took off into Pennsylvania. 

Dash camera video showed the moment Pennsylvania State Police ended a high-speed chase through Beaver County. The Ohio State Highway Patrol encountered the driver about 15 minutes earlier. 

Police said DeShawn Leeth had just crashed a separate car on the Ohio Turnpike, and the video showed Leeth getting aggressive with the trooper immediately. 

“Next time you touch me, you gonna die, next time you touch me, you gonna die,” Leeth could be heard saying on the footage. 

“Turn around and put your hands behind your back,” the trooper responded. 

From there, Leeth ran away and sprinted back at the trooper. The trooper used a stun gun unsuccessfully, and that was when Leeth started swinging. He was able to overpower the trooper, forcing him to the ground and getting on top of him while shouting, “I’m stronger than you.” 

The trooper’s body camera then became loose, and other drivers stepped in. 

“Come on, bro, I don’t want to see him shoot you, bro,” a bystander could be heard saying. 

Leeth then went for the car after letting the trooper go. 

That’s when he took off down the Ohio Turnpike, quickly crossing into Pennsylvania into Beaver County. Leeth never stopped talking after taking the trooper’s car. 

“Hey, car, I rebuke anything that gets behind me, I rebuke anything that’s in front of me,” he could be heard saying. 

For 11 minutes, he weaves through traffic and nearly wrecks the vehicle multiple times. That was until Pennsylvania State Police caught up with him in North Sewickley Township and put an end to the chase. 

Leeth continued to speak to himself inside the wreckage until troopers pulled him out of the car. 

Video provided from a passing driver showed Leeth starting to fight with them before he was shot and killed. 

According to police, Leeth was from Michigan, and prison records show he pleaded guilty to nine home invasion charges across two cases that date back to 2012. 

When he got in 2023, he became the executive director of a non-profit focused on helping at-risk kids and preventing teen violence.