On Thursday afternoon, July 15th, a citizen contacted Medford Police regarding a male assaulting a female passenger in a vehicle. Officers located the vehicle on E. Jackson Rd. and a vehicle pursuit ensued.
The suspect encountered road construction and drove into the construction area and endangering workers before the vehicle pursuit ended.
The suspect, later identified as 40 year old Michael Akers, who was known to officers, then fled the scene on foot and was observed running into his house which was nearby.
The suspect refused to come out of the house and detectives obtained a search warrant. After a couple hours of attempting to convince the suspect to exit, SWAT officers used an explosive to breach the front door. The suspect surrendered with out further incident at that point.
The victim, who was known to the suspect, was determined to be have been assaulted and subsequently the suspect, Michael Akers, has been charged with several crimes including Eluding, Endangering a Highway Worker, Assault, Kidnap and Contempt of Court (No contact order with victim).
The case remains under investigation at this time.
