(La Porte County, IN) - Police officers with flashlights caught a suspected impaired driver after he fled on foot into a woods along the Indiana Toll Road in La Porte County.

 

Nicholas Daniel, 33, of New Carlisle was booked into the La Porte County Jail for operating while intoxicated and resisting law enforcement.

 

It was late Wednesday night when a number of people in a motel parking lot in Coolspring Township grabbed the attention of an officer by pointing at Daniel as he was pulling onto U.S. 421, according to La Porte County Police.

 

The officer attempted to make a traffic stop, but the weaving vehicle kept accelerating until stopping at a Toll Road Plaza where Daniel with his left arm out the window pushed the gate out of his way.

 

He then continued on in the westbound lanes, police said.

 

Police said Daniel then drove across the median into the eastbound lanes and lost his right front tire.   He allegedly tried crossing the median again but got stuck in the soft ground and fled on foot across the westbound and eastbound lanes then up a hill before entering the woods.

 

Additional officers were arriving when the man came out of the woods and began running along the westbound lanes until veering back into the tree line, police said. Eventually, police said an officer entering the woods spotted Daniel, who had fallen to the ground, and took him into custody.

 

Police said Daniel refused a breathalyzer test, which led to his automatic arrest for OWI under state law.  He was evaluated by medics at the scene for cuts on his left leg and a large cut above his right eye.