A Greenwood man has been arrested after police say he stole a truck at a gas station and ran over the vehicle’s owner when they attempted to stop him.
Gary W. Arthur, 44, was arrested on charges of unauthorized entry of a motor vehicle, criminal recklessness with a motor vehicle resulting in serious bodily injury, and theft of a motor vehicle, all felonies. He was also arrested for reckless driving and refusal to identify himself while stopped by police. The Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office will decide what, if any, charges to file.
Greenwood police were called to a gas station on the 1300 block of S. U.S. 31 just before 7 a.m. Wednesday on a report of an accident with injury. While officers were en route to the scene, they were informed by dispatchers there was an individual who was attempting to steal a truck, and that the individual had run over another person, and that two people involved in the incident were thrown from the truck, according to a Greenwood Police Department report.
When police arrived on the scene, they saw the victim lying on the pavement at the gas station, and when they approached they were stopped by a witness who told police the man that tried to steal the truck was laying in the grass median of U.S. 31. Officers then ran to the median and placed the man, later identified as Arthur, into custody, according to the report.
Police asked Arthur to identify himself, but instead of giving his name, he yelled obscenities at the officers. First responders then arrived on the scene to take both the victim and Arthur to Indianapolis-area hospitals.
An officer then spoke with several witnesses about what they saw. One witness told police they were traveling southbound on U.S. 31 near the gas station when they saw the victim running after a truck. They later saw the victim get run over by one of the truck’s rear wheels, and saw the truck move at a high rate of speed out of the parking lot. From there, the truck began traveling southbound on U.S. 31 when it struck another car, causing Arthur to be ejected from the truck, which rolled into the median. Another witness told police something similar, the report says.
A third witness who was at the gas station getting gas told police they heard a sound of an engine revving loudly, looked up, and saw the victim hanging onto the driver’s side door of the vehicle, attempting to fight Arthur. He saw the victim fall off the door and get run over by one of the rear tires before the truck exited the parking lot. The witness then ran over to the victim to provide aid, according to the report.
Police obtained security footage from the gas station, which showed Arthur buying a cup of coffee and exiting the store. From there, Arthur was seen approaching the victim’s truck, entering it and beginning to drive off. The victim was seen running up to the truck as it began to move and grab onto it via the open driver’s side door, before the vehicle sped off out of the camera’s line of sight, the report says.
Officers later spoke with the victim at an Indianapolis hospital, where doctors said the victim had suffered fractures on both sides of their pelvis, requiring corrective surgery. The victim also had a head injury, although the severity is unknown at this time due to more testing being needed. The victim was unable to speak to officers at the time, the report says.
Police then spoke with hospital staff at Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis, which is where Arthur was taken. Hospital staff informed police of Arthur’s name at that time, as he had not yet told police any information about who he was. Officers conducted a search of records and were able to find a driver’s license photo of Arthur, which later confirmed his identity, the report says.
The next day, officers spoke with Arthur at the hospital, and he told police he was walking southbound from the area of U.S. 31 and Thompson Road in Indianapolis around 2 a.m. Wednesday and said he believed he was walking toward someone’s home in the area of U.S. 31 and Worthsville Road in Greenwood, according to the report.
Arthur then told police he does not remember any of the events that occurred at the Greenwood gas station later that morning, the report says.
The incident led to the closure of southbound U.S. 31 near Apryl Drive for a couple of hours Wednesday morning.
Arthur remains at Eskenazi Hospital in police custody. His bond has been set at $10,600.
