An October trial has set for the woman who allegedly stole items from the Tanger Factory Outlet mall before she fled from police, knocking over a deputy, and later crashing her vehicle.
Alana Marie Hissong, 28, of Blacklick, Ohio, appeared in Delaware County Common Pleas Court Wednesday morning and entered a not guilty plea to one county of robbery, a second-degree felony; one count of failure to comply with an order or signal of police officer, a third-degree felony; and one count of operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs, a first-degree misdemeanor.
Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge David Gormley scheduled Hissong for trial on Oct. 31 and set a pretrial hearing for Oct. 23.
Assistant County Prosecutor Amelia Bean-DeFlumer alleged that on Aug. 8, Hissong stole items from a store at the Tanger Factory Outlet and then fled the scene in her truck, knocking over a deputy. Bean-DeFlumer said that Hissong eventually crashed her vehicle at Berkshire Road and 3Bs & K Road.
The Delaware County Sheriff’s Office previously reported that after Hissong knocked over bike Deputy Josh Clarke, a second deputy, Alex Richison, believed that Hissong was moving her vehicle to strike Clarke while he was on the ground and shot out her tires with his sidearm.
Clarke suffered only minor injuries in the incident and Hissong was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital for treatment after she was arrested.
Bean-DeFlumer said Hissong also has a forgery case ongoing in Licking County and a felony drug case in Warren County.
Bean-DeFlumer asked Gormley to set a high cash bond for Hissong. However, Hissong’s attorney, Dominic Mango, argued that the allegation that Hissong intentional struck Clarke was erroneous
“This is a misdemeanor shoplifting case,” Mango said. Mango said Hissong only stole a few hundred dollars of clothes, below the $1000 monetary threshold for felony theft and disputed the prosecution’s version of events. “The assertion that Ms. Hissong struck the officer in the parking lot is erroneous … What obviously makes this a more serious event is the discharging of a firearm in a mall parking lot. She never drove at the officer or struck the officer. As the evidence will point out … the first officer [Clarke] ran backwards, began stumbling and fell down, he was never struck.”
Gormley set Hissong’s bond at $20,000 and said she could be sentenced to up to eight years in prison for the robbery charge, 36 months in prison for the failure to comply charge, and up to 180 days in jail for the OVI charge.
Hissong remained in the Delaware County Jail Wednesday.
The day after the incident, Delaware County Sheriff Russell Martin said the Bureau of Criminal Investigation would be conducting an independent investigation into the shooting. The sheriff’s office reported on Monday that the BCI investigation is still ongoing.
