A suspected drug dealer fled from police, speeding through neighborhoods with a 1-year-old boy in his van Thursday morning, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Department. Police say 40-year-old Jarrell Ford was the subject of an investigation for the second time this year by the Lake County Sheriff’s Drug Task Force – Regional Enforcement Team.
According to the LCSD, at around noon Thursday, police officers attempted to stop him for a traffic violation near his residence in the 7000 block of Polk Street in Merrillville, but he refused to stop.
Police say Ford drove at a high rate of speed through subdivisions with a 1-year-old boy and the child’s mother as passengers. Lake County Sheriff’s Department police officers performed a technique to safely box the fleeing van in on 73rd Avenue east of Taft Street and slow it to a stop.
Police executed a search warrant at the home on Polk and confiscated four sticks of suspected M-series dynamite, 106.8 gross grams of suspected psychedelic mushrooms and 1.5 gross grams of suspected fentanyl.
Ford is suspected of throwing narcotics from the van during the pursuit.
The Porter County Bomb Squad was called to the scene to safely remove the explosives from the home.
The 1-year-old and his mom were both checked by medical staff at the scene and released uninjured.
Ford could face multiple charges including resisting law enforcement, resisting law enforcement with a child inside the car, felony possession of explosives and two counts of dealing in cocaine.
Ford already has 8 prior felony charges for dealing in narcotics and is scheduled to appear in court in April.