Munster Police & Fire Chase Vehicle Down Bike Path Sunday
At approximately 5:30PM, a Munster Police Officer observed a silver Nissan driven by a white male traveling east at a high rate of speed on the bike trail in the 500 block of Fisher near the Munster Fire Station, according to Lt. John Peirick of The Munster Police. The officer began to pursue the vehicle with lights and sirens along with two Munster Fire Department vehicles down the bike trail. The Nissan SUV continued at a high rate of speed on the trail, crossed Calumet Ave, continued eastbound in 800 block of Fisher, driving left of center around another vehicle and then reentered the bike trail at Columbia and Fisher. Multiple pedestrians moved out the way along the trail as Police and Fire had their sirens going alerting any pedestrians of the oncoming driver. The SUV continued traveling on the trail until it dead ended just east of White Oak Avenue, Peirick stated. At that point, the driver was taken into custody on suspicion of impaired driving. The Florida plated vehicle is believed to be a rental and has visible minor damage to it.
The driver was identified as Benjamin Snow of Indianapolis. Charges will be forwarded to the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office. We will update this article Monday with charges and mugshot.
If an already dangerous situation wasn’t dangerous enough, to wit: an intoxicated driver on the bike path, it certainly went from bad to worse by the police chase. I get it, something has to be done. The police do nothing, the motorists strikes and kills a bicyclist or a pedestrian, and it’s the fault of the police for doing nothing. Wrong, it’s the fault of the suspected intoxicated driver. The police did their job and fate/fortune was on their side as all’s well that ends well. However, fire vehicles had no lawful or moral duty to pursue. The more vehicles involved, the higher the risk for great bodily harm or death to a bicyclist or a pedestrian. It is not the policy of any municipality for fire vehicles to join police chases. It is actually forbidden. Wrong judgement call. Trying to be Johnny on the spot in case fire/paramedics were needed, doesn’t not justify this.