Otha Montgomery obviously treasures his hat, because he risked it all to return to the scene of his crime after losing his hat to get it back. Once he returned, he made the stupid mistake of asking police about his hat, and then the police arrested him before the guy could escape from them again.
The 18-year-old Willoughby man ran a red light in Eastlake, Ohio in the early morning hours last Tuesday. Police tried to pull Montgomery over, but the man sped up, took police on a short chase , and pulled into a driveway and took off on foot.
According to the police, another man, who was in the passenger seat, described Montgomery to authorities. The man told them about Montgomery’s physical characteristics and the clothing he was wearing. Interestingly, he was wearing a black baseball cap , according to Cleveland .
Instead of taking off and leaving the area, Montgomery stupidly chose to flaunt himself to authorities. Investigators did stop him once but let him go. He said he was walking to a friend’s house, and so evaded officer’s twice when he was not arrested.
Amazingly, Otha Montgomery decided to press his luck even further. He went back to the scene where he parked the car in the driveway to ask police officers if they saw his lost hat, according to the Associated Press . He gave the police a detailed description of the black hat he had lost – the same hat the person in the passenger seat described to police.
Probably almost unbelievably to Montgomery, the officers searched the area and found the hat nearby in a flowerbed. Perhaps even more shockingly to Otha Montgomery, he was subsequently arrested. He denied being the driver of the vehicle.
However, while at the police station, Montgomery called a friend and told the friend all about what happened, including the part about being the driver of the car.
Montgomery pleaded not guilty to charges of failing to comply with a police order, obstructing official business and various traffic violations in Willoughby Municipal Court last Wednesday. He is scheduled to appear in court on the morning of May 26.
So far, Montgomery does not have an attorney listed.
Otha Montgomery is being held at the Lake County Sheriff’s Office on a $3,500 bond, and police will keep his prized hat for evidence.
[Photo by Eastlake Police]
