Police are looking for a man who hit a squad car, drove into a subdivision and crashed before fleeing the scene Wednesday.
By: Becky Jacobs, Post-Tribune
HOBART, Indiana — Police are looking for a man who hit a squad car, drove into a subdivision and crashed before fleeing the scene Wednesday, according to a police spokeswoman.
A Hobart police officer tried to pull over a 2018 Kia Sportage shortly after 10 a.m. for speeding on Interstate 65 near Indiana 10, said Sgt. Ann Wojas, an Indiana State Police spokeswoman. When the Kia didn’t stop, the officer began a pursuit, she said.
A state police trooper working in a construction zone had traffic stopped for a road patching repair, Wojas said. The Kia, going north on the outer shoulder, “put the SUV into reverse and drove south on the northbound outer shoulder,” according to police.
The Kia drove over the median, “straight at the state police car, swerving at the last minute, hitting the state car,” Wojas said.
The trooper was later taken to Franciscan Health in Crown Point with injuries that were not life-threatening, according to police.
The pursuit went south “when the Kia braked hard, went back into the median” and north on I-65, Wojas said.
Police followed the Kia as it went back across the median, across southbound traffic into a ditch and through a wire fence into a subdivision, according to Wojas.
The Kia went between two houses and crashed in a wooded area, where the driver fled to a residence in the subdivision, “asking the resident for a ride,” Wojas said. The driver then fled the residence, leaving a jacket behind, according to police.
Police describe the driver as a man in his mid-30s, who is 6 feet 3 inches tall, weighing 240 pounds with a “stocky” build, wearing a black T-shirt with white lettering.
He was last seen in the area of County Line Road and Indiana 10, Wojas said.
Anyone with information or who sees the driver is asked to call 911 or a local police agency.
Police said the Kia was a rental vehicle from Indianapolis.
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©2017 the Post-Tribune (Merrillville, Ind.)