WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind — A person of interest has been taken into custody for a reckless driving incident in West Lafayette and Lafayette that included a police chase, crash and two cars being stolen on Tuesday, March 1.
Michael Matthews was taken into custody for the reckless driving incident and also for multiple unrelated outstanding warrants, according to the West Lafayette Police Department.
The incident began at around 2:30 p.m. when police received a report of a person who was driving "very erratically and cutting off other vehicles" on Sagamore Parkway, police said.
Witnesses saw the driver pull into the McDonald's parking lot and as the driver pulled out of the parking lot, police said he nearly caused several crashes. Police said they couldn't safely follow him because he sped away, "darting dangerously" through heavy traffic.
Just moments later, the driver ran a red light and was in a crash with another car at the intersection of Northwestern Avenue and Lindberg Road.
The driver and two passengers jumped out of the car and tried to run away. But officers ran after them and caught the two passengers, identified as 29-year-old Gramm Smith and 24-year-old Elisha Barry, and arrested them for resisting law enforcement.
The driver was able to get away, jumping into a red Ford Focus that was left running while its owner was looking at the crash scene.
Police said the driver pulled the stolen car out of its parking spot, drove over a curb and through the grass to escape. They also allege the driver nearly hit three officers and the car's owner as he got away.
Police chased him through West Lafayette until officers eventually had to call it off because it had become too dangerous, police said.
Investigators at the crash scene said they found suspected methamphetamine in the car he was initially driving and they found more suspected methamphetamine and needles in the area where the suspects fled after the crash.
The driver later abandoned the stolen Ford Focus in an alley behind St. Mary Cathedral Elementary School and stole a blue Buick Regal from behind the school.
On Saturday, a Lafayette officer saw Matthews' car and tried to stop him but he fled. Not long after, a Purdue Univerisity officer saw Matthews in the car, which was stuck in a field near U.S. 231 South and South River Road in West Lafayette.
Officers from multiple agencies came to the area and took Matthews into custody.
