INDIANAPOLIS — A man was arrested early Thursday morning after IMPD said he led officers on a police pursuit in which he ditched a vehicle in someone’s front yard before running across I-465 and hiding in a ditch.
Police said it began around 3:39 a.m. when a driver in a Dodge Charger jumped the median and went into oncoming traffic at 10th and Shadeland. The driver was found to be asleep at the wheel when IMPD arrived.
Police said they blocked the Charger with their vehicles, but the man woke up and rammed into several police cars in his escape.
A pursuit continued a short distance and ended when police deployed stop sticks that deflated both tires on the vehicle’s driver side. The man abandoned the vehicle in the front yard of a home at 21st and Shadeland.
IMPD said he then got out of the car and ran onto I-465, at one point briefly getting into a INDOT truck before hiding in a ditch. IMPD said the man had run about three quarters of a mile before officers caught up to him in the ditch and took him into custody just before 4 a.m.
The driver was identified as Benjamin Farr. He was taken into custody under suspicion of driving under the influence.
According to IMPD, a “significant” amount of narcotics was found in the trunk of the abandoned vehicle.
It’s the second active pursuit in the past 12 hours. Five people were hurt, including the pursuit subject, in a chase on the northeast side Wednesday night.
