Source: South Bend Police Department / South Bend Police Department
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Police officers chased a man with an automatic weapon through South Bend, then arrested him after the chase ended in the water.
While on another call Saturday morning, two South Bend officers heard automatic gunshots by Portage Avenue in the Near Northwest side. When they followed the sounds, they saw a car drive through a red light.
The officers tried to stop the car, but the driver continued to flee through several neighborhoods.
More officers joined the chase, and the driver evaded them and the devices they used to try to stop the car. Eventually, he stopped and ran on foot into Pinhook Lagoon to start a standoff.
The man, 28-year-old Charlie Easton, had a handgun with a switch that converts it from semiautomatic to fully automatic.
Police say that Easton surrendered and came out of the water, but as he was placed in cuffs he tried to fight back even grabbing one officer’s gun holster.
After Easton was arrested, police found the gun, two bullet casing, and suspected drugs from the car.
Easton has been charged with:
– Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by a Serious Violent Felon
– Resisting Law Enforcement
– Possession of a Machine Gun
