Fugitive captured by U.S. Marshals

The fugitive captured Wednesday by U.S. Marshals is the same man who led Wickliffe police on a car chase earlier this month and crashed into a Cleveland home, officials said.

Deandre Woods faces charges in the Oct. 7 pursuit that reached speeds up to 100 mph, Wickliffe police said on Thursday.  The chase was one of multiple times Woods eluded capture by law enforcement, who have been searching for him for months.

He is accused in a string of crimes across Cuyahoga and Lake Counties.  Woods on Oct. 7 drove from a traffic stop on Euclid Avenue, police said. Officers followed the SUV westbound along Interstate 90, but lost sight of it due to the high speeds.

The SUV got off the freeway near East 140th Street in Cleveland. It cut across a lawn and smashed into a home on the 13800 block of Othello Avenue.  The driver was gone by the time police arrived.

Authorities almost captured Woods Sept. 30 in Mayfield Heights. He broke into an apartment near Hillcrest Hospital while authorities searched for him and held a woman hostage, police said.  He eventually jumped out the window and ran.

The U.S. Marshals finally caught Woods on Wednesday in Richmond Heights. The Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force got a tip that Woods was on Highland Road, and found him in the passenger's seat of a vehicle.

Woods is being held at the Lake County Jail.  He faces a slew of criminal charges including heroin trafficking, failure to comply with the order of a police officer, escape and burglary.

Published by The Cleveland Plain Dealer