Police Chase Man on Scooter through Golf Course, into Lake
Posted
Aaron Organ-aorgan@timesuniononline.com
SYRACUSE – A Goshen man faces meth and fleeing charges after taking police on a 10-minute chase following a staged drug buy that sped through a golf course and ended in the waters of Syracuse Lake Wednesday evening.
Around 7:30 p.m., plainclothes officers with the Kosciusko County Drug Task Force and Syracuse Police Department reportedly bought methamphetamine from 30-year-old Justin Cole Simpson along County Line Road, near Ind. 13, Syracuse Town Marshal Tony Ciriello said.
After the buy, as officers moved in to arrest Simpson, Ciriello said Simpson pulled off on a scooter, leading police on an eastbound tour toward and then through Maxwelton Golf Course. Course manager Bob Carlson said two squad cars and the scooter drove through his course, but did not damage the links.
Ciriello said the chase then spilled into the residential neighborhood along North Shore Drive, by Syracuse Lake, as officers reportedly followed Simpson through yards.
At some point, Ciriello said Simpson crashed the scooter and ran off on foot. He then leaped into Syracuse Lake, according to Ciriello.
He was eventually pulled from the lake and placed under arrest.
The chase lasted some 10 minutes, Ciriello said.
Simpson was preliminarily charged with Class A felony possession of methamphetamine over three grams, Class D felony resisting law enforcement and misdemeanor criminal mischief. He is being held in Kosciusko County Jail on a $20,000 bond.
