NORTH VERNON — Two men were arrested after a high-speed vehicle pursuit in North Vernon.
North Vernon Police Department Sgt. Andrew Richmond attempted to pull over a green Saturn at 11:43 a.m. Wednesday after it failed to stop at a red light before turning right from Walnut Street onto Norris Avenue, police said.
The driver, later identified as Clarence Howard III, 27, of Crothersville, accelerated away from Richmond and fled toward South Gum Street, police said.
Howard recklessly passed a city garbage truck traveling at more than 50 miles per hour and eventually reached 78 miles per hour before his front tire blew out and he ran off the road near a pond in Muscatatuck County Park, police said.
He then fled on foot along with passenger Elbert Howard Jr., 25, of North Vernon, but were found a short distance away by Jennings County Sheriff’s Department Col. Jeff Day.
Police said both men had active arrest warrants. Clarence Howard III had a syringe and a small amount of what was suspected to be heroin, police said.
Clarence Howard III was arrested on charges of:
- Felony possession of a controlled substance
- Possession of a syringe
- Resisting law enforcement in a vehicle
- Criminal recklessness in a vehicle
- Criminal mischief
Warrants for possession of methamphetamine, possession of a syringe, and two counts of resisting law enforcement.
He is being held in the Jennings County Jail without bond, jail officials said.
Elbert Howard Jr. was arrested on charges of misdemeanor resisting law enforcement and a warrant for failure to appear on the original charge of felony possession of methamphetamine, police said. He is being held in the Bartholomew County Jail in lieu of $3,210 bond, jail officials said.