Four Arrested After Mall Pursuit Wednesday
On Wednesday, November 17, 2021, at approximately 12:10 PM, a Hobart Detective was traveling northbound on the 7000 block of Mississippi Street in his unmarked Hobart Police vehicle, when he noticed a maroon Chevy Equinox traveling southbound on Mississippi Street at a high rate of speed while the vehicle was weaving in and out of traffic recklessly, according to Commander James Gonzales.
The Detective turned around to try and conduct a traffic stop on the vehicle, but he wasn’t able to catch up with the vehicle. The officer put out the vehicle information to Lake County dispatch. A short time later, Hobart Officers were in the area Route 30 and Mississippi Street in a fully marked Hobart Police car and they noticed a vehicle matching the description.
The Hobart Officers activated their emergency lights and siren in order to try and pull the vehicle over, instead the vehicle disregarded the officers and accelerated then began to flee from the officers westbound on Route 30.
The officers followed the vehicle to the area of Route 30 and Rhode Island Street in Merrillville, the vehicle made a U-turn and began to drive eastbound on Route 30 at a high-rate of speed. The officers continued to follow the vehicle eastbound on Route 30 to entrance to the Southlake Mall.
Once the vehicle entered the mall parking lot, the vehicle stopped and 4 black subjects fled from the vehicle and ran into JCPenney’s. Officers pursued the subjects on foot into the mall and they began to search for the suspects. Officers were receiving information from patrons inside of JCPenney’s about the direction the suspects ran to, Gonzales said. Officers subsequently located 3 of the 4 suspects, which one of the suspects was the registered owner of the maroon Chevy Equinox.
The suspects arrested were 18, 19 and 20 years of age from Gary. Each of them faces charges of Resisting Law Enforcement and Disorderly conduct. They are all being held at the Hobart City Jail.
A fourth subject was also taken into custody, because he had been criminally trespassed from the mall from a prior incident and he was in violation of the trespass warning. The Detective is reviewing surveillance images from inside of the mall to determine if the fourth subject taken into custody was involved with fleeing from the vehicle.
The Hobart Police Department thanked the following agencies for their assistance with search for the suspects: Merrillville PD, Lake County Sheriff’s Department and Crown Point PD.
