A Westville man was
arrested Saturday on multiple charges after the Porter County Sheriff’s
Police said he led officers on a five-mile pursuit from the Mink Lake Golf
Course in Liberty Township to the Walmart on U.S. Highway 30 in Valparaiso.
Joshua Rickey, 27,
with a listed address of 4 New Durham Estate Ave., was preliminarily charged
with resisting law enforcement, operating while intoxicated, domestic
battery, and battery, police said.
According to
police, at 4:56 p.m. officers responded to Mink Lake Golf Course at 636 N.
Calumet Ave. following a report of a disturbance involving several subjects.
While en route, officers were advised that one of the subjects had left the
scene in a black Ford Mustang missing a rear window, a hood, and a license
plate.
Sgt. Jesse Klemz
was northbound on North Calumet Ave. in the area of C.R. 600E when he
observed a Mustang matching that description pass him going southbound,
police said. Klemz turned around and, activating his emergency lights and
siren, attempted to execute a traffic stop on the vehicle but the driver,
later identified as Rickey, failed to stop, police said.
Rickey “drove
recklessly throughout the entire pursuit, nearly striking officers” as he
continued southbound on Ind. 49, police said. Klemz finally brought the
incident to an end near the Walmart on U.S. 30 when he performed a so-called
“PIT” maneuver--a precision immobilization technique”--by which he was able
to use his squad car to force Rickey’s Mustang abruptly sideways, causing
him to come to rest in a ditch, police said.
Rickey also
resisted officers while being taken into custody, police said, after which
he was taken to Porter Regional Hospital for execution of a blood-draw
warrant, then transported to Porter County Jail.