BY JANICE MORSE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MADISON TOWNSHIP -- An allegedly armed, drunken man is lucky deputies didn't return his gunfire -- and that he didn't die in a chase or the fiery crash that destroyed his pickup Tuesday, Butler County Chief Deputy Sheriff Richard K. Jones said.
Considering the events that led up to the crash, Chief Deputy Jones said it's remarkable that Jesse R. Keeton, 41, of Middletown is alive, let alone in stable condition.
Mr. Keeton, who remained Tuesday afternoon in Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio, is expected to face a number of charges stemming from incidents that began around 3 a.m.
Frightened bystanders had called the sheriff's office, and reported a man had been waving a gun around and was sitting in a pickup in the parking lot of the Madison Inn, 101 Front St., Chief Deputy Jones said.
When deputies ordered him to get out, they heard a shot. Deputies later found a rifle in the truck and a bullet hole whose angle indicated "that the suspect was possibly trying to fire on deputies," a sheriff's statement said.
The deputies "showed incredible restraint" in not returning fire, Chief Deputy Jones said, and they were fortunate they were unharmed. "They made a call -- and because of that, this man's alive," he said.
Mr. Keeton's truck fled westbound on Ohio 122. At Hill Street, the vehicle went off the road and got stuck in the grass momentarily. The chase continued until just west of Mosiman Road, where the truck failed to negotiate a curve while traveling at 80 mph and went off the left side of the road. After striking a guard rail and a tree, the truck traveled down an embankment, authorities said.
While the driver was pinned inside, the truck's engine caught fire. Deputies extinguished the blaze, and the Madison Township Fire Department removed the man from the vehicle.
No one else was injured, and no other vehicles damaged.
