Indiana State Police have been called in to investigate after a Porter County Sheriff’s Department deputy was involved in a vehicle pursuit Tuesday that resulted in a suspect hitting another driver head-on, killing the other driver.
The Porter County Coroner’s Office identified the driver who was killed as Nicholas Trinidad, 41, of Muskegon, Michigan.
Sheriff Jeff Balon contacted ISP’s Crash Reconstruction Team to investigate the fatality, which occurred on U.S. 12, according to a release from Sgt. Glen Fifield, public information officer for ISP.
The sheriff’s department received a Flock Alert around 1:30 p.m. that a stolen 2022 Toyota RAV4 was westbound on U.S. 12, according to a release from Sgt. Ben McFalls, the department’s public information officer. While traveling eastbound on U.S. 12 to check the area, police observed the stolen vehicle pass them westbound.
Officers turned around and attempted to perform a felony traffic stop on the vehicle but the driver accelerated at a high rate of speed, McFalls said.
Officers were in pursuit for approximately two minutes when the driver of the stolen vehicle crashed into a vehicle traveling eastbound on U.S. 12. The male driver of that car, a 2003 Pontiac Vibe, died as a result of the collision, McFalls said.
The pursuit began in the area of the Pines and ended with the head-on collision just west of Indiana 49, Fifield said.
The driver of the stolen Toyota was taken into custody by the sheriff’s department after being medically cleared at a hospital. Police found illegal narcotics in the stolen vehicle, Balon said.
The man is being held in Porter County Jail on multiple felony charges, McFalls said. The suspect, 37, with addresses in Gary and Bangor, Michigan, is not being identified because he has not been formally charged.
“First and foremost, I would like to extend my deepest condolences to the family members who lost their loved one yesterday afternoon,” Balon said in a statement.
“The Officers involved followed departmental policy and within 2 minutes of pursuing the vehicle, the driver’s careless and irresponsible actions caused the senseless death of another person,” Balon said.
