UPDATED AT 5:15 P.M. MAY 5, 2020
A suspect is dead after a high-speed pursuit across multiple counties ended in a crash at Interstate 74 and State Road 32 on Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.
The pursuit began in Hamilton County shortly after 12:30 p.m. when the male suspect stole a Noblesville police officer’s squad car, a Hamilton County dispatcher said. The officer, who was off-duty at the time, was flagged down to assist at a battery investigation in a parking lot near State Road 37 and 141st Street. She was treated for minor injuries following the altercation.
The suspect later ditched the squad car and stole a 2006 Toyota Avalon, Montgomery County Sheriff Ryan Needham confirmed.
A rifle may have been inside the vehicle, according to scanner traffic.
The chase continued onto Interstate 74, reaching speeds in excess of 120 m.p.h. in Montgomery County, according to scanner traffic.
Deputies with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office were made aware of the situation at 1:05 p.m. when the pursuit entered Montgomery County. The suspect was being pursued by officers from Noblesville, Indianapolis Metropolitan and Jamestown police departments.
“We were getting here to try to set up some stop sticks and hopefully end it,” Montgomery County Sheriff Ryan Needham said. “(We) were setting up when the suspect began to exit the interstate.”
The suspect, driving a stolen 2006 Toyota Avalon, initially collided with a 2005 Buick passenger car that was stopped on the ramp behind a semi-trailer driven by Jerry Hayes, 41, of Marion, Michigan.
The Toyota sideswiped the Buick, operated by 76-year-old Chester Leatherman of Russellville, before striking the rear end of the trailer. The suspect’s vehicle sustained heavy front-end damage and came to a stop on the west side of the ramp.
Leatherman was transported to Franciscan Health Crawfordsville for non-life threatening injuries. Hayes was not injured.
The suspect, whose name it not being released at this time pending notification to next of kin, was pronounced dead at the scene after being extricated from the vehicle.
Interstate 74 was closed for more than an hour and a half after the crash.
MCSO is continuing to investigate the scene of the crash while Noblesville Police is completing the criminal investigation.
Officers from the Noblesville, Indianapolis Metropolitan, Jamestown, Crawfordsville, Ladoga and Indiana State police departments responded to the scene. They were aided by medical services from the Crawfordsville Fire Department and the Montgomery County Coroner.
