Staff report

WARREN — An Ashtabula County man was found guilty Monday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on charges of failure to comply with the signal or order of a police officer, a third-degree felony, and a misdemeanor charge of aggravated menacing.

A jury found Dennis L. Brainard, 49, guilty after about 40 minutes of deliberations, according to the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office. His trial before Judge Ronald Rice lasted one day. Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Burnett called three witnesses to the stand, including an off-duty Ashtabula police officer, a Trumbull County sheriff’s deputy and a drone operator from the county’s Emergency Management Agency.

Brainard will be sentenced by Rice on Tuesday after Brainard undergoes a background investigation and could face up to five years in prison plus up to 180 days in jail for the misdemeanor conviction.

The case involved Brainard pulling a gun on an off-duty Ashtabula police officer on a Trumbull County road after the off-duty officer stopped to check on Brainard’s disabled vehicle. The Nov. 3, 2025, incident then turned into a police chase with Brainard’s vehicle trying to elude a Trumbull County sheriff’s deputy.

The chase ended in a cornfield when Brainard ditched the vehicle and fled on foot before he was spotted by a drone.