(La Porte County, IN) - A Lafayette woman has been identified as the person found deceased after allegedly stealing and driving a La Porte County Police vehicle into a water-filled ditch while trying to allude officers.
Melissa Collins, 21, was pronounced dead after being located in the submerged 2021 Ford Explorer, according to Indiana State Police.
ISP said the cause and manner of death will be determined through an autopsy.
The chain of events leading up to the death began late Wednesday night when a Westville Police officer reportedly tried stopping her for undisclosed reasons in a vehicle on U.S. 421. The attempted traffic stop triggered a high-speed pursuit to U.S. 30 westbound into Porter County.
La Porte County Police said the suspect, before reaching Indiana 49 east of Valparaiso, began traveling back to La Porte County on U.S. 30 and headed southbound on U.S. 421 at Wanatah.
A decision was then made to terminate the pursuit in the interest of safety.
Several minutes later, LaPorte County Police said information was received about a crash along U.S 421 near County Road 1400 South.
After the crash, the investigation shows Collins was handcuffed and secured in the front passenger seat of the police vehicle assigned to Deputy David Grimberg. Grimberg had walked away from his patrol vehicle to investigate the crash when Collins began manipulating her handcuffs.
Eventually, ISP said Collins managed to unbuckle her seat belt and drive off in the police vehicle. While in pursuit, officers lost sight of the stolen police vehicle, but, while searching the area, discovered it submerged in a water-filled ditch in the area of 2100 South and 875 West between Wanatah and LaCrosse. Evidence at the scene indicated the police vehicle crashed after crossing a set of railroad tracks at an extremely high rate of speed.
LaPorte County Police Capt. Derek Allen said state police were brought into the investigation to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest because of a sheriff’s department vehicle being involved in the happenings.
He said why Collins was in the area and other specifics remained under investigation.
