Chesterton Police Officer Jorge Perez assisted in the apprehension of a suspected auto thief on Thursday afternoon, following a pursuit which began in LaPorte County and ended in Lake County, the Chesterton Police Department reported on their Facebook page.
According to police, at 2:06 p.m. Perez was running stationary patrol facing eastbound in the parking lot of Complete Family Dental, at 175 U.S. Highway 20, when he heard Indiana State Police scanner traffic advising of a “fresh auto theft” in the Michigan City Police Department’s jurisdiction.
The suspect vehicle was a white Hummer.
Officer Perez said that a few moments later, he noticed a white Hummer pass him, going westbound on U.S. Highway 20. Perez stated in his report at that time he was unsure if this was the vehicle in question or not, so he decided to follow the vehicle.
Perez continued to follow the Hummer onto southbound Ind. 49 and was able to provide the vehicle’s plate number to dispatch which was a a dealer plate. Michigan City police still had no further information on the stolen vehicle, other than that it was a 2002 model.
Then, as the Hummer exited southbound Ind. 49 for westbound I-94, its driver “failed to maintain its lane and drifted halfway into another lane,” Perez stated. At that point Perez activated his emergency lights in an attempt to execute a traffic stop.
The Hummer’s driver declined to stop.
“I proceeded to inform dispatch that I would be in a traffic pursuit on westbound I-94 with speeds around 85 miles per hour and moderate traffic,” Perez stated.
The Hummer’s driver continued westbound until exiting onto southbound Ripley Street in Lake Station. At the northwest corner of Ripley Street and Central Avenue, the driver turned right into a Walgreen’s, cutting through the parking lot and almost striking another vehicle, then proceeding westbound on Central Avenue, police said.
In the area of Grand Avenue, Perez stated, the driver crossed the center line and, at a speed of “approximately 80 miles an hour,” drove westbound into oncoming traffic, narrowly missing yet another vehicle.
In the approach to Virginia Street the driver appeared to crash into “the gas pump at R&S Petro Food Mart,” Perez stated, but “was still able to drive away and head north on Virginia Street,” in the process losing his “front right tire” and “throwing debris in the roadway.”
Still northbound on Virginia Street, the driver passed Fifth Street, then hung a left onto westbound Fourth Street/U.S. Highway 12, where he passed Grant Street, Taft Street, and Marshall Street at approximately 60 miles per hour until hanging a left onto southbound Bigger Street, then went right onto westbound Fifth Avenue. The pursuit finally came to an end when the driver crashed in the 4400 block of West Fifth Ave., Perez stated.
The driver—a 22-year-old Hammond resident and the Hummer’s only occupant—was taken into custody by Lake County authorities. The name of the driver was not listed on the Chesterton Police Department’s Facebook post.