A wrong-way traffic stop on West 11th Street in Michigan City turned into a high-speed police chase late Friday night that ended with a car slamming into a South Shore Line railroad guardrail, critically injuring three passengers, including two juveniles. The driver, 18-year-old Michigan City resident Jaelyn Maida, sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was booked into jail on multiple felony charges once she was released from the hospital.
According to WIMS Radio, Michigan City police officers observed a vehicle traveling the wrong direction on West 11th Street from Washington Street, and when an officer attempted a traffic stop, the motorist accelerated and refused to stop, prompting officers to initiate a pursuit. The chase ended when the vehicle crashed into a guardrail along the South Shore railroad tracks at West 11th and Ohio streets, injuring the driver and three passengers inside.
Responding officers provided life-saving measures to the three passengers at the scene, the station's report states. LaPorte County EMS transported all four occupants to Franciscan Health hospital, a 142-bed facility that operates a Level III trauma center and primary stroke center, according to the American Hospital Directory. The Michigan City Fire Department and LaPorte County EMS both assisted at the scene, per the same account.
Two Teens, One Adult Left Fighting for Their Lives
Two juvenile passengers sustained life-threatening injuries and received medical treatment at Franciscan Health, while an adult passenger was flown to a regional hospital after suffering catastrophic injuries, the report notes. As of Monday, both juvenile passengers remained hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, and the adult passenger was airlifted from Franciscan Health to a regional trauma hospital, according to 95.3 MNC. The exact conditions of all three remain part of the ongoing investigation, which officials say will prevent release of further information at this time.
The crash site sits along a stretch of the South Shore Line that underwent a major transformation just last year. A $304 million infrastructure project eliminated more than a century of street-running train tracks along 11th Street and opened a new 11th Street station building in June 2025, according to the office of Representative Frank Mrvan. South Shore trains previously ran directly down the middle of 11th Street before the tracks were realigned as part of that project.
Felony Charges and a Legal Limit on Prosecutors
Maida was arrested for resisting law enforcement-causing death or catastrophic injury, a Level 3 felony under Indiana Code § 35-44.1-3-1 that carries a statutory prison sentence of 3 to 16 years and fines of up to $10,000, according to Justia. She was also arrested on three counts of criminal recklessness/aggressive driving-resulting in catastrophic injury or death, a Level 5 felony under Indiana Code § 35-42-2-2 punishable by 1 to 6 years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines for each count.
The unusual charging structure, one felony resisting count paired with three separate recklessness counts, traces back to a 2018 Indiana Supreme Court ruling. In Paquette v. State, the court held that the resisting law enforcement statute authorizes only a single conviction from one continuous vehicular fleeing incident, regardless of how many victims suffer catastrophic injuries or death, according to Case Clips. That precedent explains why prosecutors filed one Level 3 resisting count alongside three Level 5 counts, one for each injured passenger.
Toxicology results remain pending, and police believe alcohol may have been a contributing factor in the crash, per the police release cited by WIMS Radio. Under Indiana law, blood samples from serious injury crashes are routinely sent to the Department of Toxicology to determine whether operating while intoxicated charges should be added. Following her release from Franciscan Health, Maida was transported to LaPorte County Jail, where her bond was set at $15,000 cash. As with any case, all arrests and criminal charges are mere accusations, and every person is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
State Police Take Over Crash Reconstruction
While Michigan City police initiated the pursuit, the Indiana State Police is now investigating the crash and handling reconstruction duties, a standard step in Indiana when local pursuits end in serious injury. The Long Beach Police Department also assisted with the incident, per the police release.
The crash adds to a string of high-speed pursuits reported across LaPorte County this summer. It comes less than a week after an August 8 chase on U.S. 20 near Michigan City ended with a suspect fleeing on foot into a pond, as Hoodline previously reported. In July, a suspected impaired driver triggered a four-car pileup in an I-94 work zone near Michigan City, part of a pattern of flee-and-elude incidents that has kept sheriff's deputies and municipal police busy in recent months.
