Warsaw Man Flees Police, Causes CrashA pursuit that reached 99 mph Sunday afternoon resulted in the driver getting Tased and taken to jail.
Around 1:08 p.m. Sunday, Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Deputy Kyle Denton was traveling north on Old 15 heading into Milford when, according to Sheriff Kyle Dukes, Denton saw a red 2010 Dodge Ram pickup truck traveling south at a high rate of speed.
As Denton turned around and activated his police lights, Dukes said, the truck was clocked at 99 mph in a 55 mph speed zone. The driver of the truck, Joseph Eugene Trump, 27, of 340 E. Levi Lee Road, lot #129, Warsaw, did not stop for Denton.
“Ironically, I was in town in Milford, so myself and Syracuse Police officer (Cody) Leer set up and positioned our patrol vehicles at the intersection of CR 700 and CR 200E,” Dukes said. “That is a very dangerous intersection in Kosciusko County, and we wanted to make sure no one crossed the intersection.”
Dukes said the pursuit then continued south on CR 200E.
At the intersection of CR 100E and Levi Lee Road, Trump was “traveling way too fast and struck a white Cadillac Escalade at that intersection and pushed that vehicle into the ditch,” Dukes said.
Dukes said he stopped and got out to check on the driver of the Cadillac. That driver was OK, Dukes said.
The pursuit continued west on Levi Lee Road after the collision, eventually entering the Whispering Pines Trailer Park.
“The guy drove home to his residence in Whispering Pines trailer court, pulled into his driveway and ran up to his front door,” Dukes said.
Dukes said Trump continued to disregard law enforcement commands to stop.
“Deputy Denton pulled out a Taser and shot him one time in the back, and the suspect fell to the ground on the front porch,” Dukes said.
While at the trailer, Dukes said the man’s mother and grandmother showed up. Apparently, the man was on the phone with his 80-year-old grandmother while he was fleeing police, the grandmother told Dukes.
Dukes said Trump was extremely intoxicated and was dealing with a bad relationship with his girlfriend.
The man’s mother and grandmother told Trump that they love him, but it’s time to change his ways.
Dukes said he told Trump that he’s lucky no one got hurt, especially the man in the Cadillac he hit.
“It was the pep talk that you can’t do that, and thank God everyone is fine,” Dukes said.
Trump refused a breathalyzer test, Dukes said, but his blood draw showed his BAC was 0.241%.
Trump was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail at 4:34 p.m. and faces charges of resisting law enforcement with a vehicle, resisting law enforcement, leaving the scene of a crash and operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
His bond was set at $5,250.
Syracuse Police Department and Lutheran EMS assisted KCSO in the pursuit.
