Hoppes
A Charlestown man has been arrested after he led police on a high-speed chase in a stolen car on Interstate 65 in Johnson County Thursday night.
David A. Hoppes, 44, was arrested on charges of being a habitual traffic offender, resisting law enforcement, possessing a hypodermic syringe or needle, and possession of methamphetamine, all felonies. He was also arrested on charges of aggressive driving, possession of stolen property, resisting law enforcement, all misdemeanors; and three warrants. The Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office will decide what, if any, charges to file.
Franklin police were on patrol when they were notified of a FLOCK license plate reader hit on a stolen vehicle driving on King Street west of the I-65 interchange shortly before 9 p.m. Thursday. The notification described the car as a white van that was reported stolen in Kentucky, according to a Franklin Police Department report.
Police located a green car with the plate registered to the white van at a gas station in the 2100 block of E. King Street. A man, later identified as Hoppes, walked out of the gas station and headed towards the green car. An officer tried to speak to Hoppes, but Hoppes looked at the officer and immediately entered the car and drove away, the report says.
The officer followed Hoppes’ car and heard the car tires squeal as he left the gas station at a high-rate of speed. The officer activated his emergency lights and pursued the green car as it drove onto Umbarger Lane, crossing east King Street and going on Paris Drive northbound, the report says.
Hoppes completed a full loop of the Paris Drive roundabout before making his way back to King Street, turning left toward the roundabout where he again completed a full loop, turning back onto east King Street and drove eastbound towards I-65 at a high-rate of speed. The driver entered I-65 North and Franklin police notified law enforcement agencies north of the city of the chase and requested stop sticks, the report says.
On I-65 Hoppes was observed making several traffic violations, including driving more than 110 mph in a 70 mph zone. As the chase approached the Whiteland exit, Hoppes drove on the right shoulder, bypassing several cars. He also failed to signal numerous lane switches and at times failed to stay in single lane, according to the report.
Greenwood police and the Johnson County deputies set up stop sticks near the Main Street exit in Greenwood, and Hoppes drove over them. Hoppes’ vehicle began to slow down rapidly and pulled towards the left shoulder of the northbound lane of the interstate. Hoppes exited his car and fled on foot westbound — crossing the southbound lanes as police yelled at him to stop, the report says.
Officers pursued Hoppes on foot as he entered a drainage ditch and entered a wooded area. Police caught up to him and he surrendered without further incident, the report says.
When police searched Hoppes, they found two syringes in his pockets, a container with a rock-like substance and a plastic bag containing a white powder substance. Field tests later showed both substances were methamphetamine with a weight of 1.6 grams, the report shows.
Hoppes told police the car was not stolen, but the license plate was, he told police. The car belonged to his friend in Kentucky who had given it to him to use, and said one of his friends had put the stolen plate on the car because the original plate had been expired, the report says.
The car did not have a vehicle identification number attached to it. Officers were unable to determine if the car was stolen and had it towed for further investigation, according to the report.
Police also found two additional license plates, both from Indiana, in the trunk. The first plate had an altered registration date, and had not been registered since 2021. The second plate was reported stolen from Louisville, Kentucky, according to the report.
A search of Hoppes’ name through the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles showed he was a habitual traffic offender with a lifetime suspension. The license was suspended last year in Kentucky, and there as an additional suspension with an indefinite re-eligibility date as well, the report says.
Hoppes also had two out-of-county warrants and one out-of-state warrant for arrest from Kentucky. The first was a Harrison County warrant for strangulation and domestic battery and the second was a Howard County warrant for theft. Information on the out-of-state warrant was not immediately available.
Hoppes was taken to the Johnson County jail, where he is held without bond.
