A 37-year-old East Chicago man wanted on violent felony warrants across four separate Lake County cases was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon after leading Indiana State Police on a high-speed chase that ended in a crash on Chicago's South Side. Austin Earl Williams was arrested without further incident once his vehicle came to a stop, according to Indiana State Police.
The pursuit began after detectives from the Indiana State Police Lowell Post Criminal Investigations Bureau and the ISP SWAT Team were deployed to serve high-risk felony warrants on Williams, according to CBS News. Per Indiana State Police, troopers located Williams driving a 2018 Ford Taurus near Calumet Avenue and Conkey Street in Hammond, using Flock cameras and other investigative technology to pin down his location. When troopers tried to initiate a traffic stop, Williams fled, according to Indiana State Police, kicking off a pursuit that carried him at a high rate of speed through Hammond and across the state line into Illinois.
The chase ended at the intersection of 77th Street and East End Avenue in Chicago. Williams was taken into custody at the crash scene without further incident, and the Chicago Police Department transported him to Cook County Jail, where he is being held without bond pending an extradition hearing that will return him to Indiana.
Four Lake County Cases
Williams had active warrants tied to four separate Lake County cases, the station's report indicates. The charges included burglary, robbery, domestic battery, strangulation, criminal confinement, residential entry, interfering with the reporting of a crime, and resisting law enforcement.
Indiana State Police said they will seek additional felony charges related to Tuesday afternoon's pursuit once Williams is back in the state. Fleeing a law enforcement officer in a motor vehicle automatically upgrades a resisting charge from a Class A misdemeanor to a Level 6 felony punishable by 6 months to 2.5 years in prison, per Banks & Brower.
What Happens Before He Comes Back to Indiana
Williams was captured outside Indiana and was being held without bond pending an extradition hearing.
The pursuit began near Calumet Avenue and Conkey Street in Hammond and ended in Chicago.
Flock cameras helped troopers locate Williams' Taurus in this case.
A Post With Recent Scars
In a report on a multi-agency interstate pursuit that ended with a trooper being shot and a suspect later found dead, Fifield was identified as an ISP public information officer, according to CBS News. That earlier case underscores the heightened risk troopers accept when pursuing violent felons across state lines.
Tuesday's chase adds to a string of recent high-speed pursuits and traffic emergencies Indiana State Police have handled in Hammond. Hoodline previously reported on a barefoot driver's 80 mph pursuit earlier this month.
