‘Enough is Enough’: Over 25 Charges Filed Against Suspect...

CARMEL, Ind. — More than 25 criminal charges have been filed against an Indiana man after police say he stole a car from a Carmel gas station and crashed it into a utility pole, injuring two people and damaging a backyard in the process.

Manuel Ettress, 31, was arrested earlier this week after Carmel police were called to a car theft and subsequent crash. On Friday, 26 criminal charges were officially filed against Ettress, including felony battery, kidnapping, criminal recklessness and auto theft.

Carmel Mayor Sue Finkam took to social media this week to address Ettress’s case, saying it was “unacceptable” and asking “how did this happen?” The charges against Ettress stem from an alleged carjacking that happened Tuesday night at GetGo and ended with a stolen car crashing into the backyard of a Carmel home.

Carjacking at the air pump

Carmel police crews were called around 10:20 p.m. Tuesday to the 11500 block of Illinois Street on a report of a stolen vehicle. Upon arrival, they located a father and daughter who were suffering from injuries and said their car had been stolen.

The alleged victims told officers that they had stopped at the GetGo to put air in the tires of their white 2006 Toyota Highlander when the carjacking occurred. While outside the car to fill up the tires, the father said he heard his daughter screaming in the passenger seat, telling someone to get out of the car.

When he looked up, the father reportedly saw an unknown man sitting in the driver’s seat.

“In fear of his daughter’s safety, he immediately stood up, opened the driver’s door, and grabbed onto the accused, trying to remove him from the vehicle,” court documents read.

However, the man reportedly fought off the father and put the car in drive before driving forward several feet and crashing into some nearby posts. While driving forward, the man allegedly drove over the father’s right foot and trapped it under the tire.

The suspect, later identified as Ettress, then allegedly told the daughter to get out of the car. She then got out of the car, and Ettress reportedly put the car in reverse. While moving backward at a high rate of speed, witnesses said the car dragged the father onto the ground and then crashed into a gas pump before speeding away south on Illinois Street toward 106th Street.

While the daughter reportedly suffered minor leg injuries from the altercation, the father had to be taken to the hospital for treatment. There, it was determined that he had four breaks in his left humerus bone, requiring a two-and-a-half-hour surgery, two plates and 13 screws.

Crash into utility pole, trees and a backyard

As officers were responding to the gas station, they reportedly spotted the stolen Toyota speeding around 80 mph while going north on Spring Mill Road. Court documents detail how the car eventually veered off the right side of the road and struck an electrical pole.

After the initial impact, investigators say the Toyota unearthed multiple trees and went airborne through the back of a fence on Fleetwood Drive. The car then reportedly rolled through a backyard, “crushing” an AC unit and taking the siding off of a home before coming to a stop against the chimney.

Court documents claim that after the crash, Ettress got out of the stolen car and began fleeing the scene on foot. Eventually, officers tracked him down and identified him as the suspect.

Meth and crack use

Court documents claim that Ettress later admitted to stealing the Toyota “because ‘the voice’ told him to.”

Officers on scene noted that Ettress was “frantic” and that his eyes were bloodshot and dilated. He reportedly admitted on scene that he frequently smokes crack cocaine and methamphetamine, and that he had last smoked meth about two hours before the crash.

While searching Ettress and the stolen car, officers reportedly found a clear glass pipe with burnt ends and part of a copper scouring pad, as well as other drug paraphernalia. A “drug recognition expert” later determined that Ettress was high during the incident.

Aftermath, arrest and charges filed

Investigators reportedly watched surveillance video from the gas station that showed Ettress “carjacking” the victims before driving away. It was also later determined that he was driving with a suspended license.

Online records show Ettress was booked on Wednesday morning into Hamilton County Jail without bond. On Friday morning, the following charges were filed in Hamilton Superior Court 5:

• Robbery Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury – Level 2 Felony
  • 2 counts
• Kidnapping while hijacking a vehicle – Level 2 Felony
• Robbery Resulting in Bodily Injury – Level 3 Felony
  • 2 counts
• Leaving the Scene of an Accident while OWI – Level 3 Felony
• Battery Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury – Level 5 Felony
• Battery with a Deadly Weapon – Level 5 Felony
• Kidnapping with bodily injury – Level 5 Felony
• Kidnapping where committed by using a vehicle – Level 5 Felony
• Causing Serious Bodily Injury when OWI – Level 5 Felony
• Auto Theft with a Prior Conviction – Level 5 Felony
• Criminal Recklessness committed with a deadly weapon – Level 6 Felony
  • 2 counts
• Auto Theft – Level 6 Felony
• Unauthorized Entry of a Motor Vehicle – Level 6 Felony
• Driving While Suspended – Class A Misdemeanor
• Leaving the Scene of an Accident – Class B Misdemeanor
  • 5 counts
• Public Intoxication – Class B Misdemeanor
  • 3 counts
• Possession of Paraphernalia – Class C Misdemeanor

Online court records show Ettress is set to make an initial appearance in court at 1 p.m. Friday in front of a Hamilton County judge.

‘Enough is enough’

Carmel Mayor Sue Finkam took to social media on Thursday to express her disappointment in the case and the fact that Ettress, who has prior convictions, was out of jail.

Online court records show Ettress has more than 30 criminal cases filed against him in Indiana over the last eight years. Most of the cases are Level 6 felony theft cases out of Marion County, although he has also faced charges in other counties, such as Monroe and Hancock.

While online court records list Carmel and, before that, Bloomington as Ettress’s home address, Finkam said that the suspect does not live in Carmel. She instead believes he has been living in local homeless shelters.

In an interview Friday morning with FOX59 Morning News Anchor Angela Ganote, Finkam said she is frustrated with “repeat offenders cycling through the system” and that “enough is enough.”

Finkam told Ganote that a man with a long criminal history should have been in jail, but instead “injured a victim and terrorized a family.”

The full interview with Finkam can be viewed above. To read Finkam’s social media post in which she called attention to Ettress’s case, click here.

FOX59/CBS4 has reached out to local prosecutors’ offices, including Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears, for a response to Finkam’s call for action. We have not heard back as of this article’s publication.