Chase, Robbery Suspect Going To Grand Jury

Friday, February 17, 2012 at 6:29 AM

Bernard Russell

Boone County Jail

(Florence, Ky.) - The man who led a crazy police chase on Interstate 275 after allegedly robbing two banks in the Florence area was in court Thursday.

Beaver Bernard Russell, 47, told a Boone County judge that he was well aware police were chasing him as he tried to flee at speeds near 130 MPH on February 9, the Kentucky Enquirer reports.

“It’s like they were dropping from the sky,” he said.

The chase ended soon after his tires were punctured by stop sticks deployed by Greendale Police on the interstate in Indiana. Russell crashed his getaway vehicle – a white Nissan Maxima – in the I-275 median near Mineola Pike. Luckily, nobody was hurt.

The judge decided to send the case to a grand jury to decide what charges Russell will face in a trial.

Russell faces two counts of fleeing and evading, two counts of robbery, wanton endangerment, criminal mischief, theft of license plate and two counts of receiving stolen property.

He was out of Michigan prison on parole from a ten year sentence at the time of the Florence robberies.

Federal investigators believe Russell is responsible for five other bank hold-ups in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin in January and February.

LINKS:

Bank Robbery and Chase Suspect Is Wanted

Police Chase Spans Three States, Twice