A dog named Dax successfully chased down an alleged domestic violence offender who fled from a vehicle on Interstate 94 early Sunday morning, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies received a 911 call about 12:40 a.m. reporting a domestic battery in a vehicle on the side of the westbound Interstate 94 off-ramp at Route 60 in Mettawa, officials said.
Before sheriff’s deputies and Illinois state police arrived, the suspect, Jermaine D. Ausley, 30, of Chicago, fled the scene, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The vehicle Ausley fled was found to be stolen, authorities said.
Deputy John Forlenza and Dax, his canine partner, tracked Ausley’s scent to the 1900 block of Amberley Court in Lake Forest, where they found Ausley hiding under a tarp in an outbuilding, officials said.
Ausley was taken into custody without further incident, authorities said. He was turned over to state troopers, taken to the Lake County Jail and charged with two counts of domestic battery, obstructing a peace officer, criminal trespass to building and criminal trespass to vehicle, according to reports. He was being held Sunday at the jail, with bail set at $40,000.
Ausley is scheduled to appear in court Friday.
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