(MIchigan City, IN) - A fugitive claiming to be a homeless man was captured during a short high-speed chase in Michigan City.

 

Rick Wheelden, 28, was clocked at 82 miles per hour on Indiana 212 last week. A traffic stop was attempted on Freyer Road, but Wheelden kept going at high speeds and was on Haack Road before coming to a sudden stop in a business's parking lot, police said.

 

He was ordered out of the vehicle at gunpoint.

 

Per authorities, Wheelden, whose former address is in Michigan City, told the officer he was currently living in a tent.

 

According to court documents, Wheelden was taken into custody on an outstanding warrant for Intimidation.

 

The charge alleges that Wheelden, in early October, angrily grabbed a pipe and threatened to strike a woman with it if she didn’t stop talking on her phone. He also purportedly threatened to shoot the woman, lifting his shirt to show her a gun he had stowed in his waistband.

 

Wheelden, after the brief pursuit, reportedly told the officer he used crack cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana the previous night.