Indy man charged after high-speed police chase

An Indianapolis man has been charged after prosecutors say he led Greenwood police on a high-speed chase from Greenwood to the southside of Indianapolis.

Keith Allen Sullivan, 34, of Indianapolis, was charged with resisting law enforcement, possession of a controlled substance and resisting law enforcement and causing an injury, all felonies, as well as reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident, misdemeanors. If convicted he faces up to about seven years in jail.

Police were doing a routine traffic patrol on North Emerson Avenue, near the East County Line Road and Interstate 65 interchange, shortly after 10 p.m. Sunday when an officer ran a license plate check on Sullivan’s vehicle. The car was registered to Sullivan, who had a warrant out of Morgan County relating to drug charges, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Johnson County Superior Court 3 on Thursday.

When police attempted to stop Sullivan, he pulled over to the shoulder, then continued eastbound toward the I-65 northbound ramp. He sped up and merged onto the ramp, the affidavit said.

Sullivan continued to pick up speed as the officer pursued him on northbound I-65. The officer notified dispatchers that a pursuit was under way and asked them to notify Indianapolis police, according to the affidavit.

Sullivan continued on I-65 at high speeds, weaving in and out of traffic and almost striking several vehicles. He continued onto eastbound Interstate 465, where he struck an SUV and a bridge near I-465 and Ninth Street in Beech Grove, but did not stop, the affidavit says.

He got off I-465 at the Emerson Avenue exit and drove south to Southport Road, where he turned back toward the interstate, the affidavit said.

Sullivan merged onto I-65 northbound for a second time, continuing at high speeds for several miles. As he merged onto eastbound I-465 again, he made a hard left turn, cutting off multiple vehicles and a semi. He lost control of the car and crashed into a guard rail on the westbound ramp before rolling over, the affidavit said.

Police approached the car with guns drawn and ordered Sullivan and a passenger to show their hands and not move. The passenger was ordered out of the car and was detained. Sullivan had to be handcuffed and removed from the car by officers due to his injuries. Sullivan told police he ran due to the warrant out of Morgan County, the affidavit said.

Sullivan was convicted in March in Morgan County on a methamphetamine possession charge, and received a suspended sentence with conditions that he be on home detention for 120 days and probation for a year. The sentence was amended after Sullivan violated his probation in August. A warrant was issued for his arrest on Sept. 29, after a second probation violation, according to online court records.

Prosecutors say Morgan County prosecutors are planning to extradite Sullivan sometime in the future, the affidavit said.

The passenger told police she asked Sullivan to stop but he wouldn’t. She said he told her he couldn’t stop because he had a warrant and couldn’t go back to jail. The woman asked Sullivan numerous times to let her out of the car, but he refused, the affidavit said.

Sullivan told police she did not have anything to do with the pursuit. He was taking her home when Greenwood police attempted to pull him over, and he didn’t stop because of the warrant, according to the affidavit.

Both Sullivan and the passenger were taken to area hospitals for treatment due to their injuries from the car crash, and the passenger was released from police custody, the report said.

Police later searched Sullivan’s vehicle and found a small bag with a brown powdery substance they say was heroin, the affidavit said.

Sullivan remains at Johnson County jail where he is held without bond. An initial hearing has been set for Thursday.