A 62-year-old man from Tallmadge was shot and killed on Friday morning after a police chase that began with a traffic stop in Norton ended on South Main Street in Akron, where state troopers stopped his car with a PIT maneuver and officers opened fire after authorities say the driver fired at them first.

Source: WAKR, reporting the Ohio State Highway Patrol

The Ohio State Highway Patrol identified the man as Robert Ashley. According to the patrol, Ashley fled a traffic stop in Norton in a 2004 Volvo S40, and Norton police requested help from state troopers at about 9:41 a.m. on Friday, November 13. Troopers joined the pursuit on Interstate 77, the main north-south freeway through Akron.

How the chase ended on South Main Street

The chase ended in the 1200 block of South Main Street in Akron, just south of the I-76 interchange area and near a laundromat, after troopers used a precision immobilization technique — commonly called a PIT maneuver — to stop the Volvo. Authorities say Ashley then pulled out a weapon and fired at officers, which led to the officer-involved shooting. That account is the official version given by the patrol; the state investigation described below is the process that will test it against the physical evidence and any video.

Officers attempted lifesaving measures at the scene, but Ashley was pronounced dead there. No law-enforcement officers were injured, the patrol said.

Source: WAKR, reporting the Ohio State Highway Patrol

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) confirmed to WKYC 3News in Cleveland that the incident involves the Norton Police Department and that no officers were injured. BCI, the investigative arm of the Ohio Attorney General's office, was requested by the State Highway Patrol to investigate the shooting.

Source: WKYC 3News, reporting BCI statements

What a PIT maneuver is, and why troopers use it

In a PIT maneuver, a pursuing trooper steers the front quarter of the patrol vehicle into the rear quarter of the fleeing car, causing the fleeing car to rotate sideways and come to a stop. Patrol agencies use the technique to end a pursuit on their own terms rather than let it continue into denser streets, where the risk to other drivers and pedestrians rises with every block. The maneuver is normally attempted at controlled speeds and in a spot the trooper judges clear enough to absorb a spinning vehicle.

A state investigation, not a local one, will test what happened

Ohio handles most fatal police shootings this way: the agencies involved hand the criminal investigation to BCI, whose Force Investigation Unit collects the scene evidence, the vehicles, the weapons, radio recordings and any body-worn or dashboard camera video. BCI's findings are then presented to the county prosecutor — here, the Summit County Prosecutor's Office — which decides whether the case goes before a grand jury. That separation exists so the officers' own departments do not grade their own shooting.

Why this corridor matters to drivers, including truckers

Interstate 77 is the principal north-south route linking Cleveland, Akron and Canton, and it carries heavy commuter and freight traffic through Summit County every day. South Main Street runs beneath the I-76/I-77 interchange complex in south Akron, so a Friday-morning pursuit ending there unfolded on one of the busiest road junctions in northeast Ohio. No freeway closure of I-77 itself was reported in connection with the shooting.

What happens next

BCI's investigation is active and ongoing, and no timeline for its completion has been announced. The next public milestones are typically BCI's completion of its investigative file and the Summit County prosecutor's review of it. The officers involved have not been publicly identified, which is standard while a BCI force investigation is open. Awaaz Punjab will update this story if BCI or the patrol releases the stop reason, video, or the number of officers who fired.