Four people were arrested after a police chase that began at Edinburgh Premium Outlets.
The chase ended after reaching speeds of up to 122 mph when the vehicle went airborne and landed in a ditch near state roads 46 and 135 in Brown County.
The driver, Juwan Williams, 23, of Nashville, Tennessee, was arrested on charges of theft, resisting law enforcement and corrupt business influence. Benji Amos, 20, and Tiara Moore, 23, who also are both from Nashville, face preliminary charges of theft and corrupt business influence and were being treated at Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis on Friday, Brown County sheriff’s deputies said.
A 17-year-old from Memphis, Tennessee, who was in the vehicle is being held in the Bartholomew County Youth Services Center.
The chase began at 8:15 p.m. Thursday when police were called to the Michael Kors store at Edinburgh Premium Outlets after a group of people grabbed purses and shoes valued at more than $10,000 and fled, Edinburgh Police Chief David Mann said.
The vehicle the people left in headed south on U.S. 31 and then onto Interstate 65, reaching speeds of more than 100 mph before getting off the interstate on State Road 46. The vehicle nearly hit a police car head-on, and another officer struck the vehicle with his patrol car, sending that officer to the hospital for treatment.
The vehicle continued at more than 100 mph on State Road 46 before striking another vehicle at the intersection of State Road 135. The vehicle in the chase went airborne and landed in a ditch. The people in the other vehicle that was struck were not injured, police said.
All four people in the vehicle that fled were taken to Columbus Regional Hospital. Amos had a broken back, and Moore had a severe hand injury; they were later taken to Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital. Williams is being held on $22,500 bond in the Bartholomew County Jail.
The vehicle and people involved matched descriptions of previous shoplifting reports, Mann said.
“The flagrant disregard for safety that was displayed by the offenders, coupled with the knowledge that the vehicle matched one described in continuing crimes, were aggregating reasons to continue the pursuit,” Mann said.