JOHNSON COUNTY, Indiana — A motorcyclist who allegedly ran from police is fighting for his life after the pursuit ended in a crash at the Whiteland exit on Interstate 65 Monday evening.
Dawn Kutruff shared photos with 13News from her frightening drive home from work Monday evening, Nov. 4. She got off I-65 south at Whiteland Road about 6:30 p.m.
Just minutes before, a Whiteland police officer was sitting in the department headquarters writing reports when he heard a loud motorcycle racing through town. The officer went to his squad car and pursued the motorcycle eastbound on Whiteland Road. Police say the officer tried to initiate a traffic stop after the motorcycle sped through a construction zone.
"When he turned his lights on and his siren, the motorcyclist looked back at him, saw him and then just gunned the engine and took off, and started weaving in and out of traffic going left of the vehicles and going down to the berm on the road trying to get away from him," Whiteland Police Chief Rick Shipp said.
Shipp said the chase lasted less than a half-mile, starting on Whiteland Road near Bob Glidden Boulevard and ending at the I-65 overpass.
The motorcycle hit a Nissan Murano that was pulling over to the shoulder for the emergency lights and siren. Kutruff was talking on the phone with her husband.
"Right as I got off the road, there was this huge impact that hit the back of my car, and I had no clue what it was," Kutruff said. "I thought maybe it was the cop. And I said to my husband, 'Something just hit my car.' He said, 'I know. I heard it. Are you OK?' And I said, 'I think so.' I was shaken up."
The motorcyclist was ejected over the guardrail and down the hill, almost all the way onto I-65. Dustin Ammerman, 31, of Franklin, was in critical condition in an induced coma at last report.
No one else was injured in the crash.
Kutruff feared the rider was killed in the crash.
"It was frightening because we honestly thought there was no way that, with the amount of impact, that was in my car, and then at least a 20-foot drop," Kutruff said. "What we did see is he had a helmet on, which probably saved him. And instead of landing on the cement below, he landed what appeared to be on the grass."
Shipp said the motorcycle was not registered and the rider had a suspended license. He said motorcyclists running from police often get away because officers call off pursuits when safety becomes an issue.