Man who led police on high-speed chase through 2 counties sentenced to 2 years in prison

OREGON – An Ohio man was sentenced to prison April 13 for fleeing sheriff deputies during a high-speed chase through Stephenson and Ogle counties in November 2022.

Brian K. Taylor, 49, of Massillon, Ohio, was sentenced to two years in prison on each of the three class 4 felonies — aggravated assault of a peace officer and two counts of aggravated fleeing to elude a police officer. Two of the charges will be served consecutively while the other will be served concurrently.

Ogle County Judge John Redington levied the sentences after hearing arguments from Taylor’s attorney, Public Defender Michael O’Brien, and Assistant State’s Attorney Matthew Leisten.

Taylor gave a brief statement prior to the sentencing: “I have suffered quite a bit of mental illness over the years and I’ve let that deteriorate here recently. And I regret my actions very deeply. I am still looking forward to the future, sir.”

Prosecutors initially charged Taylor with attempting to murder Ogle County Patrol Sgt. Michael Halfman, accusing Taylor of veering his car toward Halfman’s police vehicle near the end of the chase.

But Redington found Taylor not guilty of two counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count of aggravated battery to a peace officer following a Feb. 22 bench trial. Redington ruled there were no supporting facts presented that Taylor intended to kill the officer.

During Taylor’s bench trial, a dash camera video shot by a Stephenson County Deputy Anthony Miller showed Taylor passing numerous cars and trucks—sometimes on the shoulder and sometimes in no-passing zones—while clearly disregarding stop signs and traffic signals. At one point, he looped around cars stopped at an intersection to avoid stopping.

The chase continued through Freeport on Illinois 26 and then south into Ogle County and eventually on to Freeport Road. Dispatch conversations that could be heard on the dash cam video indicated speeds of 60 mph through Freeport on Illinois 26 and as high as 110 mph on Freeport Road.

During the pursuit, Taylor ignored stop signs at the intersections of Freeport Road and Illinois 62 and Illinois 64 including swinging around vehicles as they were stopped at the intersections.

“The Stephenson County video was startling,” Redington told Taylor prior to delivering the sentences. “There were at least 100 vehicles throughout the course of that chase that could have easily been impacted. If a car would have zigged rather than zagged, there could have been an extremely serious accident and you didn’t seem to care. And when you were stopped by the police you noted that you didn’t care. I haven’t seen you care until this last minute and a half when you told me you care, you regret it. That’s all great to say when you are sitting here in court facing sentencing, however, it falls late in my opinion.”

Leisten said Taylor showed no concern for Ogle and Stephenson county residents as he broke numerous traffic laws while fleeing Miller.

“He created reasonable apprehension for Deputy Halfman and before Freeport Road he was engaged in very dangerous conduct at dangerously high speeds,” Leisten said. “His conduct placed all those motorists in danger and they were doing nothing wrong.”

Leisten said Taylor’s pre-sentence report showed he had been convicted in 1995 of reckless homicide in Ohio, which resulted in three deaths. Leisten said Taylor had been sentenced to 2-10 years in the Department of Corrections.

“Although this other serious driving incident was close to over 30 years ago, we see the same conduct being done back on November 2022. It appears he did not learn his lesson from that incident in 1995,” Leisten said.

Taylor has been in custody in the Ogle County Correctional Center on $500,000 bond since his arrest.

After the sentencing hearing, Ogle County State’s Attorney Mike Rock said Taylor would also be credited for time served in the Ogle jail and would probably be eligible for parole after serving less than two years.

Rock said state laws need to be modified to increase penalties for aggravated fleeing offenses such as this one.

“We are pleased that the judge gave the defendant a Department of Corrections sentence. However, this case is emblematic of the need for the legislature to change the penalty range for the aggravated fleeing to elude statute,” Rock said. “My office is in the initial stages of working with our local legislators to get the sentencing range changed to reflect the seriousness of the conduct.”

Bench trial background

During the Feb. 22 bench trial, Miller testified he started pursuing Taylor about 11:59 a.m. in Dakota, Illinois on Route 75, after clocking Taylor’s Mazda Miata at 70 mph in a 55 mph zone. He pursued Taylor to U.S. Route 20 where Taylor made “abrupt turns” and went through a ditch and over a median before entering Freeport. He said Taylor disobeyed stop signs and traffic signals during the pursuit with speeds reaching 110 mph.

As the vehicles reached the intersection of Freeport and Milledgeville roads, Miller said he could clearly see Halfman and his parked squad in the northbound lane.

Halfman testified he had parked his squad car in the northbound lane near the intersection of Freeport and Milledgeville roads and was ready to deploy the stop sticks to flatten Taylor’s tires when he saw the Mazda Miata in the southbound lane being pursued at a “high rate of speed” by Miller.

“I thought he was going to hit me. I feared for my life,” testified Halfman, who had been dispatched at 12:15 p.m. to assist with the chase.

“Deputy Miller saw the defendant purposely driving his vehicle toward Officer Halfman. He easily could have driven straight ahead. The stop sticks were not out. At no time did the defendant intend to stop his vehicle,” said Leisten during the trial.

Taylor surrendered without incident after his car collided with the rear of Miller’s squad and the two deputies ordered him out of the car.

When asked by Leisten what Taylor said after the chase ended, Miller testified: “I asked him why he was running and he said ‘I just wanted to make it interesting. I didn’t think you fellas could chase in the State of Illinois.’ "

“At no point in time do I intend to minimize the feeling that Sgt. Halfman had that he believed Mr. Taylor was intending to kill him,” Redington said at the trial before rendering his verdict. “There are just no supporting facts to support the argument that he intended to kill Officer Halfman.”