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Driver who led police on three-county, 100-MPH chase gets three years in prison
Since a 2007 fatal accident in northern Indiana apparently failed to help a Portage man learn his lesson, Putnam Superior Court Judge Denny Bridges is hoping another prison sentence will.
Aaron Lee Phelps, 24, who led police on a 100-mph, three-county chase through Putnam, Hendricks and Morgan counties last June 3, was sentenced Wednesday afternoon to three years in the Indiana Department of Correction after pleading guilty to the Class D felony resisting law enforcement with a vehicle.
In exchange for his guilty plea, the Putnam County Prosecutor's Office agreed to dismiss the other four charges filed against Phelps, three misdemeanors and a Class C felony alleging criminal confinement.
The latter charge stems from Phelps refusing to let a 23-year-old Cloverdale woman -- whom he had only met earlier that day -- out of the car despite her protests as he sped off to elude authorities after being stopped for speeding in Greencastle by Officer Nick Eastham. It was noted in court Wednesday that the woman has refused to testify in the case.
In pronouncing sentence, Judge Bridges referenced a 2007 Valparaiso incident in which Phelps, then just 16, also drove off when police confronted him about some burglary incidents. In his haste to escape, he ran a stoplight and struck a truck, causing a fatal accident that took the life of a 15-year-old Louisiana girl.
"You didn't learn your lesson then," Judge Bridges said, alluding to a 2008 conviction that got Phelps an 18-year sentence (with three years suspended) for the Class B felony resisting law enforcement by use of a vehicle and causing the death of another person.
"And now you ran from police again," the judge continued.
Phelps' court-appointed attorney, Scott Adams, argued that his client -- who was released in 2013 from incarceration stemming from that Porter County sentence -- suffers from "operational defiance," blaming that apparent disorder for causing Phelps to flee from police.
"Operational defiance notwithstanding," Judge Bridges stressed, "you can't go running from police every time you see headlights or every time you have a tail light out. That's just not going to happen."
Phelps told the court he realizes what he did was wrong, claiming that he was "put in a position I wasn't comfortable in when I was pulled over."
Saying he has had "plenty of time to reflect on it," Phelps asked the judge to sentence him to time served for the incident.
The judge wasn't buying that notion.
"Your attorney did quite a job for you," Judge Bridges responded, "with you pleading guilty to a Class D felony and having a Class C felony and three misdemeanors being dismissed.
"You have rather a lengthy criminal history," Bridges noted, pointing out his rap sheet dates back to 2004 with charges in four counties and six criminal convictions.
"That's part of the reason I ran," Phelps admitted, adding that he incurred two Class D felonies and two misdemeanors as a juvenile as well.
In sentencing Phelps to the agreed-upon three-year DOC sentence, Bridges said he would request the offender be sentenced to a prison that includes "a therapeutic community" that might be able to help him. However,the DOC is not bound by such judicial recommendations, the judge noted.
After eluding police in a June 3, 2014 pursuit that began in Greencastle and ended on Interstate 70 some 44 miles later, Phelps was eventually apprehended in Colorado, Judge Bridges said.
The incident began just before 10 p.m. when Greencastle Police Officer Nick Eastham observed a red Mitsubishi Eclipse northbound on Bloomington Street at a high rate of speed and made a traffic stop on State Road 240 near Tennessee Street.
Phelps, who Eastham said seemed extremely nervous, took off at a high rate of speed just as the officer was learning the suspect's license had been suspended by the BMV.
Eastham and Putnam County Deputy Gregg Slover pursued the car eastbound as it blew through a stopsign at Zinc Mill Road and ran a red light at Calbert Way.
The car then turned north onto Fillmore Road, entering the old TechnoTrim (IAC storage building) lot before ramping a parking block and driving through the yard back onto State Road 240.
GPD Sgt. Charles Inman and Officer Matt Huffman joined the pursuit as Phelps headed back toward town and went east on County Road 200 South to U.S. 40 before turning onto U.S. 231 and running another red light.
After apparently swerving to try to hit a Cloverdale unit was northbound on U.S. 231 near County Road 700 South, the suspect continued south to I-70 and U.S. 231. Dispatch officials told police at that point that Phelps had called 911 from inside the fleeing car, reporting he would not be taken alive.
The fleeing vehicle reportedly reached speeds of more than 110 mph as the car weaved in and out of heavy interstate traffic, nearly hitting several vehicles, including a school bus. As the car approached the 56-mile marker on I-70 Phelps reportedly swerved between two semi tractors.
As the pursuit neared the 59-mile marker, Hendricks County units set up Stop Sticks, causing Phelps to swerve into the median. Continuing along I-70 at a high rate of speed, he eventually hit a 2006 Cadillac driven by an Illinois resident, causing Phelps to lose control and spin out at the 62-mile marker.
Phelps then jumped from the Mitsubishi, leaving his female passenger trapped inside as he fled north across the westbound lanes of I-70 before running into a wooded area north of the interstate.
A Hendricks County K9 unit was initially able to track the subject but eventually lost his scent about a half-mile east of the scene.
Phelps was later captured in Colorado and extradited to Indiana last July 10 to face his charges in Putnam Superior Court.