A Fort Wayne man
was arrested on multiple charges early this morning following a high-speed
pursuit which began in Ogden Dunes, bled into Burns Harbor, then ended on
I-94 in Portage.
Mario Christian
Burke, 49, was charged with reckless driving, fleeing, disorderly conduct,
battery to law enforcement, and resisting law enforcement, Ogden Dunes
Police said.
According to
police, at 4:14 a.m. an ODPD officer on patrol near the town hall observed
Burke southbound in the northbound lane of Hillcrest Road, “disregarding the
‘Keep Left’ sign at the north side of the town hall” and forcing the officer
to pull over his squad car “to avoid being struck.”
The officer
executed a U-turn and followed Burke as he exited Ogden Dunes and turned
left onto eastbound U.S. Highway 12, performing a traffic stop on Burke just
east of Stagecoach Road. There the officer got a warrant hit on Burke
through Allen County, while Burke’s status returned suspended-infraction,
police said.
Then, as the
officer waited for a backup Burns Harbor PD officer to arrive at the scene,
Burke told the officer to take his cell phone and talk to the person on the
other end, someone he said he worked with in Chicago. “I remained by my
squad with Burke inside his vehicle and, holding the phone outside of the
car, demanding that I speak with the subject on the cell phone,” the officer
stated in his report. “Due to the warrant stating Burke had violent
tendencies, was possibly armed and dangerous, and was wanted on a charge of
resisting law enforcement, I remained at my squad.”
With the arrival of
backup, the officer instructed Burke three times to put down his phone and
exit the vehicle, while Burke continued to demand that the officer speak to
“Cory,” police said. On being given the same instruction a fourth time,
Burke “put the car into drive and left eastbound on U.S. 12 at a high rate
of speed,” police said.
The officers
followed, reaching a speed of 104 miles per hour but not gaining on Burke,
who made it as far east as Ind. 149 in Burns Harbor, where he U-turned at
the U.S. 12 crossover and headed west the way he’d just come, police said.
At Ind. 249, near
the Portage marina, Burke ran over stop sticks deployed by the Portage PD
but kept going, his speed, however, slowing to around 50 mph as his tires
began to deflate, police said. From Ind. 249 Burke exited onto westbound
I-94, finally stopping at the 18 mile marker, where a contingent of squad
cars boxed his vehicle in, police said.
Burke was taken
into custody without incident, although, in all the excitement, the Burns
Harbor PD officer was bitten on the forearm by a Portage PD K-9 unit as the
officer approached the suspect vehicle, police said.
Once in custody,
though, Burke became “combative, hitting his head against the window,
releas(ing) the seat belt, attempt(ing) to climb over the seat to get into
the front seat, yelling at officers to shoot him, stating he wasn’t going to
go back to prison,” police said.
Burke--who was
issued a citation for wrong way/one way, DWS-infraction, and unsafe lane
movement--was transported to Porter County Jail.