This screen capture from a video shared on social media by Brandon Yates shows a U-Haul being driven into Franklin on U.S. 31 Saturday.
Screenshot from video
Viral videos show a U-Haul truck barreling through Franklin on Saturday, but that’s just the end of a dramatic incident that originated in Indianapolis.
Numerous videos posted to social media show a number of police cars hot on the trail of a U-Haul as it is driven toward the intersection of U.S. 31 and Jefferson Street. In one video, which has garned at least 4.9 million views and nearly 339,000 likes on TikTok, the driver crashes into vehicles stopped at the intersection.
The video then shows the driver bailing out of the U-Haul, running through the strip mall southeast of the intersection, crossing Jefferson Street and disappearing behind CVS. The video also shows several police running after the driver in foot pursuit.
The initial incident began in Indianapolis after a robbery was reported on the southside. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department informed Franklin Police the suspect driving the U-Haul reportedly stole items from the Target on Southport Road using a weapon that appeared to be a handgun, according to a Franklin Police Department report.
IMPD asked Franklin Police to be on the lookout for the U-Haul fleeing south. An officer spotted it in the parking lot of the Marathon gas station near Interstate 65 at 2:59 p.m., watching it for a time until backup arrived, the report says.
Franklin officers attempted a traffic stop, but the vehicle fled. The driver went northbound and then southbound on I-65, completing two U-turns at the crossovers nearest to the King Street overpass, before exiting on King Street again, the report says.
The driver turned on Jim Black Road and did a U-turn back to King Street, where the driver weaved back and forth between the east and westbound lanes while heading west. The driver went the wrong way around the roundabout at Eastview Drive and continued down King Street, the report says.
The chase continued from King Street to Home Avenue to Champ Ulysses Street to South Main Street and into the south parking lot at the Johnson County Courthouse. Officers tried to block him at the parking lot, but the driver hopped the curb and the chase continued on West Court Street, the report says.
The driver fled west on Jefferson Street, north on Walnut Street, and west on Clark Street, where the driver entered the parking lot of Northwood Elementary. The driver drove over a curb through a fence and the playground at the school, the report says.
Police didn’t follow him through the playground but re-engaged when the driver entered U.S. 31 at Mallory Parkway. Stop sticks were deployed at this time and the U-Haul drove over them, however, the chase continued south on U.S. 31, the report says.
While going south through the Jefferson Street intersection, the driver hit two vehicles and continued south, where another driver was forced off the road and into the median near County Road 80 South. The driver then did a U-turn and went back north, the report says.
Again approaching the Jefferson Street intersection, the driver encountered stopped traffic. But instead of stopping, he attempted to drive between the stopped cars. The U-Haul struck multiple vehicles and got stuck, the report says.
The driver bailed on the U-Haul and fled officers on foot. Police apprehended him in the nearby CVS parking lot, the report says.
Police impounded the U-Haul, which contained the items that were reported stolen from Target and the weapon that was reportedly used in the robbery — an Airsoft pistol.
The driver, identified as Troy E. Bradford, 33 of Elgin, Illinois, was booked into the Johnson County jail on two counts of attempted robbery, four counts of leaving the scene of an accident, resisting law enforcement with a vehicle, criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon — vehicle, and possession of paraphernalia.
Prosecutors in Johnson and Marion counties will ultimately decide what charges to formally file.
Bradford, nor any officers or anyone else involved in the chase was injured.
One Franklin Police car was damaged after experiencing “brake fade” while rounding the turn from Home Avenue to Champ Ulysses Street during the chase. The accident was likely due to the speed and length of the chase, the report says.
