Chesterton Tribune

 

 

Ogden Dunes Police: High speed pursuit into Burns Harbor today

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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.

 

 

Posted 1/26/2016

 
 
 
 

 

 

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