SEYMOUR/WALESBORO, Ind. – On Saturday at around 5:15 a.m., the Seymour Police Department observed a car traveling west on US 50 near Dupont Drive driving at speeds more than 20 mph over the posted speed limit.
When officers activated their emergency lights and sirens to initiate a traffic stop, they reported that the vehicle accelerated at a high rate of speed, and a chase was initiated. The suspect vehicle continued toward the city before heading north on State Road 11 (Ewing Street) and eventually merging onto northbound I-65.
Officers pursued the car north on I-65 until it slid off the expressway at mile marker 64.5, near Walesboro. The driver exited the vehicle and fled into the nearby woods.
He was soon spotted along I-65 near mile marker 61, but continued to run. Law enforcement chased him into an adjacent field. Columbus Police Department officers and Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived to assist and deployed drone and K-9 units.
A short time later, the suspect was found hiding nearby in an area of thick brush. He was identified as Brandon Thomas, 27, of New York.
Thomas was taken into custody and preliminarily charged with Resisting Law Enforcement Using a Vehicle (Level 6 felony), Resisting Law Enforcement on Foot (Class A misdemeanor), and Operating While Suspended-Prior (Class A misdemeanor).
All parties herein depicted or described are presumed innocent until or unless proven guilty in court.