MISHAWAKA, Ind. — A suspect in a hit-and-run crash that killed two teenagers during a police pursuit in northern Indiana in 2020 has been taken into custody after evading authorities for two years.
Warrant officers with the St. Joseph County Police Department arrested Jesse Lottie Jr., 24, on Thursday at a Mishawaka apartment complex on outstanding criminal charges, including four felony counts stemming from the fatal crash, the South Bend Tribune reported.
No court dates have been set as of Friday for Lottie.
On Dec. 2, 2020, he allegedly broke into an apartment but then drove away from the scene when police arrived. Authorities allege that minutes later, Lottie's vehicle hit a car at a Mishawaka intersection, killing Clayton McClish, 19, and his girlfriend, Elizabeth Johnson-Neher, 18.
Lottie was charged in August with resisting law enforcement and leaving the scene of a fatal crash. Court documents say another man in Lottie's car that night eventually identified Lottie as the driver.
Johnson-Neher's parents filed a lawsuit earlier this year against the city of Mishawaka. Their suit alleges that the December 2020 police pursuit was dangerous from the onset and that Mishawaka police officers were not properly trained in reasonable procedures governing such pursuits.
