Scott Delano Thomas, 26, John M. Thompson, 25, injured and arrested after police pursuit on State Route 23 leads to a crash with multiple patrol cars in Delaware County.

Two men are in jail after leading law officers on a chase on Rt. 23 in southern Delaware County this afternoon that eventually led to a crash and the road being closed in both directions for two hours. Detectives had been watching one of the men, Scott Delano Thomas, 26, after his friends and family said he robbed a bank in Lewis Center on Saturday, a spokeswoman for the Delaware County sheriff’s office. Police said Thomas, who was released from the Delaware County jail in December 2012 after serving time for theft, told his family and friends he had no plans to end up behind bars again. “He said, ‘I’m not going back to jail, they’re not taking me alive,’” police said. The statements, she said, “put us on heightened alert.” Detectives waited for Thomas just before noon yesterday in an unmarked car outside a Walmart on Columbus Pike in Delaware, Whited said. He came out with another man, John M. Thompson, 25. The pair got into a van, which investigators believe was stolen, and headed south on Rt. 23, with Thompson driving. The detectives followed the van, then turned on lights and sirens to pull it over, Whited said. Instead of stopping, she said, Thompson fled. Detectives called for help, and deputes farther south on Rt. 23 put stop sticks in the road. The sticks blew out one of the van’s tires, Whited said, and it hit an unmarked car and several marked patrol cars before crashing into the median on Rt. 23 near OhioHealth Boulevard. Whited said Thompson hit his head and was taken to OhioHealth Grady Memorial Hospital in Delaware with minor injuries. One deputy fired his gun, Whited said, but no one else was hurt. Investigators shut down both directions of Rt. 23 for about two hours yesterday to collect evidence. Thomas is in the Delaware County jail tonight, charged with one count of robbery, according to Delaware Municipal Court records. Thompson also is being held but not yet charged. Whited said he’ll be charged with failure to comply.