Man arrested at hotel after foot chase with police

An incident that police say began as a "typical arrest" on campus turned into a long and boisterous foot chase Monday evening.

Officers from the OSU Police Department were called to the area east of the Ohio Stadium shortly after 7 p.m. Monday on reports of an aggressive panhandler. When they arrived, they found 43-year-old Garrett Parker, who Lt. Denny Holern of OSU Police described as a "career criminal" who regularly causes trouble on campus. When officers approached Parker, he fled on foot.

COLLIN BINKLEY/THE LANTERN University police chased an 'aggressive panhandler' east of Ohio Stadium Monday evening. Police chased the man through a campus restaurant before catching him inside the Blackwell Inn..

"I was just coming out of Oxley's Cafe and this guy dressed in a white T-shirt and blue athletic pants came running really fast, he almost crashed into me," said Francesca Boland, a freshman in biology.

Boland said the fleeing criminal ran into Oxley's by the Numbers, evaded officers in pursuit, and then escaped running northbound. Witnesses said he jumped over a construction fence on Woodruff Avenue and ran into the Blackwell Inn.

Once Parker was inside the Blackwell, police said he caused a commotion, running into private areas of the hotel and disrupting business until police finally caught him shortly before 8 p.m.

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