Source: Photo: Chris Davis
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — A man is dead after leading police on a high-speed chase that started in Michigan and ended in downtown South Bend.
Indiana State Police have been called in to lead the investigation as they try to figure out just why the man fled Michigan State Police in Niles, Michigan in a red Kia. Michigan troopers had stopped the man in Niles at a marijuana dispensary.
The suspect then took off at a high rate of speed and led police into Indiana.
He eventually led police into downtown South Bend where he ended up crashing into =a South Bend police cruiser near a McDonald’s. That’s when he got out of the car and fled on foot into the woods behind the McDonald’s.
“He started running across the parking lot (of the McDonald’s),” said a witness. “He was running and (fired shots) behind his back at one of the officers, hit him somewhere on his vest, I believe, because he went to the ground and got back up and kept chasing.”
That’s when he said a few officers started shooting at the suspect. The pursuing officers lost contact with the suspect at that point and Indiana State Police said that’s when they began using aerial drones and other means to look for him.
The suspect was eventually found dead at the bottom of an embankment along a river behind the McDonald’s. Troopers say the man’s body will be taken to Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo for an autopsy.
