CHESTERTON, Ind. — Two men are facing a combined total of 12 charges for a northwest Indiana police chase that ended in a head-on crash seriously injuring an officer on Saturday night.
Indiana State Police received a call around 7 p.m. from someone who said their daughter was being held against her will in a vehicle. The caller said the suspect had a handgun and was traveling eastbound on Interstate 94 from the Illinois state line.
Police found the suspect's car and tried to pull it over. The driver initially stopped, allowing troopers to see there were several people in the car, one of which appeared to be a woman, according to Indiana State Police. Then the driver sped away.
On Monday, Indiana State Police said detectives had later determined no one in the car had been kidnapped.
"However, troopers believed that criminal activity was afoot at the time of the traffic stop due to the information given to them at that time," ISP said in a news release.
During the police chase, the suspect turned his car around and, going the wrong way on the road, drove at three police cars that were headed his way. The driver hit an officer's car head on.
The officer, a 16-year veteran of the Porter Police Department, was taken to a local hospital with serious non-life-threatening injuries.
After the crash, two men got out of the car and ran away from the police.
Three others stayed in the car. One of the passengers was a woman. She was taken to a local hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.
Officers were able to chase down one of the suspects, later identified as Aries Atlas, 25, of Kalamazoo, Michigan. He was arrested and taken to the Porter County Jail.
The second suspect escaped, kickstarting a manhunt near Chesterton.
At around 9:30 p.m., the Chesterton Police Department told residents to stay inside and lock their doors while officers searched for the suspect, described as a white man dressed in dark clothes.
Multiple northwest Indiana police agencies and the Lake County Aviation Unit searched for the man through the night.
On Sunday morning officers went to a Phillips 66 gas station where they received a tip that a suspicious man was asking to use a phone.
Officers arrived and arrested the suspect, identified as Samuel Kuhl, 29, of Kalamazoo. Kuhl was wanted on two warrants for weapons possession by a felon charges. He was arrested and taken to the Porter County Jail.
While investigating, ISP said a handgun was recovered. It was later determined to have been a stolen gun from Kalamazoo.
Prosecutors filed a combined total of 12 charges against Kuhl and Atlas on Monday.
Kuhl has been charged with felony unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon and the misdemeanors of carrying a handgun without a license, two counts of resisting law enforcement and false informing.
Atlas was charged with two counts of felony resisting law enforcement with a vehicle, two counts of felony leaving the scene of a crash involving serious bodily injury and the misdemeanors of resisting law enforcement, reckless driving and operator never licensed.
