INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana State Police arrested a 17-year-old boy after he allegedly led police on a chase, reaching speeds of 115 mph before crashing and fleeing on foot.
According to recently-filed court documents, around 11:30 p.m. on May 13, an ISP trooper stopped at a red light at the intersection of East 38th Street and Shadeland Avenue on the east side of Indianapolis and saw a white Chevrolet Impala with a headlight out on the driver's side.
The trooper then saw the Impala pull into a gas station just south of the intersection. After the trooper turned on their emergency lights, the Impala sped off the lot back onto Shadeland Avenue. The trooper reportedly could not see the license plate of the Impala because it was a temporary plate with a tinted cover.
Court documents say that the Impala reached speeds of around 100 mph on southbound Shadeland Avenue, which has a posted speed limit of 45 mph. The trooper chased the Impala onto the eastbound ramp of Interstate 70 where the Impala allegedly reached 105 mph.
The Impala then allegedly led police onto southbound I-465 where, according to court documents, the traffic was light. The Impala allegedly reached a top speed of approximately 115 mph while on southbound I-465.
The trooper reportedly saw the Impala weaving in and out of lanes without using a turn signal.
According to court documents, the Impala later took the exit from I-465 onto southbound I-65 before exiting onto Southport Road. A different trooper was leading the chase at this time and allegedly saw the Impala lose control and spin into a ditch near the exit ramp.
Police then attempted to set up a road block to corner the driver of the Impala. However, according to court documents, the Impala accelerated out of the ditch and struck one of the trooper's squad cars head-on before fleeing westbound on East Southport Road.
The Impala then allegedly began driving on the wrong side of the road and ran through a red light at the McFarland Road intersection before crashing head-on into a light pole at the corner of Southport Road and Madison Avenue.
The driver of the Impala then was seen getting out of the car and running on foot into a residential area and then a "large forested area." IMPD joined ISP troopers to deploy drone units and release K-9 officers.
According to court documents, after being unable to find the suspect, police began investigating the crash scene, finally being able to get a good look at the Impala's license plate. The Impala's plate was registered to a beige 2005 Cadillac, while the VIN was registered to a 2007 white Chevy Impala.
Inside the Impala, police reportedly found a receipt for an employee meal from White Castle with a purchase date of May 8. The employee's name was found on the receipt.
Court documents say that police traced the name on the employee meal receipt back to an apartment on Red Mill Drive, which is near the scene where the chase began. A cellphone was found on the ground with a lock screen of a photo of a teenager matching the suspect's description.
Police said the teenager photographed on the cellphone's lock screen matched the same driver's license photo of the name listed on the White Castle receipt.
(NOTE: 13News does not name suspects until charges are filed by prosecutors.)
Following the initial investigation, police arrived at the Red Mill Drive address around 10 p.m. on May 14 to conduct a follow-up investigation. Eventually, a woman answered the door and identified herself as the suspect's boyfriend and told police she was alone in the apartment.
Court documents say police then entered the apartment and began giving verbal commands for any other occupants to identify themselves. A trooper then entered the bathroom and found the suspect inside the shower hiding behind the shower curtain. The suspect verbally identified himself to police.
Police arrested the suspect after he was found, but police also cited his girlfriend for obstruction of justice and assisting a criminal. She was released from police custody without incident at the scene.
After loading the suspect into the back of the police car, court documents say a trooper noticed "numerous" cuts and bruises on the suspect's arms and legs and that a bloody towel was found inside the apartment.
The suspect was identified as a 17-year-old boy from Indianapolis. Police contacted the boy's mother, who was reportedly in Danville, Illinois at the time. The boy and his mother talked on the phone for a "meaningful" amount of time.
According to court documents, after the phone conversation with his mother, the suspect allegedly told police that the Chevrolet Impala had been stolen from his cousin's house the night before the incident, but had not yet reported it stolen. He told police that he had "no idea what happened."
After being taken to the Marion County Juvenile Center, the suspect again called his mother. Following the conversation, the suspect then allegedly told police that he did not mean to run from police and ram his car into a trooper's car. Court documents say he told police that he had just gotten his car back from the impound lot earlier that day and was scared. He allegedly told police he should have stopped when he was pulled over at the gas station.
According to court documents, the suspect told police he was sorry for running and that he knew he should have stopped.
