A LaPorte man is in the Fulton County Jail facing nine preliminary charges after an Indiana State Police trooper chased his Tesla at speeds of approximately 130 mph on U.S. 31 shortly after midnight on Friday, November 6 — a pursuit that crossed from Fulton County into Marshall County, ended in a crash that injured another driver, and finished on foot, with a sheriff's K9 making the arrest, the Indiana State Police said.
Source: GIANT fm (Indiana State Police release, Marshall County report)
Trooper Jarod Sheetz of the Indiana State Police was patrolling U.S. 31 in Fulton County shortly after midnight when he located a Tesla passenger vehicle travelling northbound near Olson Road. Sheetz attempted to stop the vehicle for speeding and distracted driving. The driver did not stop. He fled at high speed, and the pursuit ran north through Fulton County roadways and into Marshall County, reaching approximately 130 mph — more than double the speed at which night traffic on that corridor normally moves, on a two-county stretch of the main north-south highway between Indianapolis and South Bend.
The pursuit continued northbound on U.S. 31 to 17th Road in Marshall County, where the Tesla crashed into another motor vehicle. The driver of that other vehicle was treated at the scene for minor injuries. The Tesla's driver got out and fled on foot. A Fulton County Sheriff's K9 later apprehended him, and he was taken to the Fulton County Jail without further incident, police said.
The driver, the search, and the signal jammer
Police identified the driver as Tyler M. Freville, 28, of LaPorte. A subsequent search of the Tesla revealed suspected marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and a signal jammer — a device used to interfere with communications or GPS signals, according to the state police account of the search. Possession of the jammer is itself one of the felony charges in the case.
Freville faces nine preliminary charges: resisting law enforcement with a vehicle causing injury, a Level 5 felony; possession of a signal jammer, a Level 6 felony; criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, a Level 6 felony; resisting law enforcement, a Class A misdemeanour; leaving the scene of an accident with injury, a Class A misdemeanour; reckless driving, a Class A misdemeanour; possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanour; possession of paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanour; and operator never licensed, a Class C misdemeanour — the last charge alleging that he has never held a driver's licence.
The Indiana State Police and the local reports carrying the release remind readers that charging information supported by an affidavit of probable cause is a mere allegation that a crime has been committed, and that Freville is presumed innocent throughout the proceedings, is entitled to be represented by counsel, and is entitled to a trial by jury at which the state must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Nine agencies on one midnight call
Trooper Sheetz did not work the pursuit alone. Assisting were officers from the Indiana State Police Peru District and Bremen District, the Fulton County Sheriff's Office, the Marshall County Sheriff's Office, the Rochester Police Department, the Argos Police Department, the Argos Fire Department, Parkview EMS, and Lyons Towing — a list that shows how a single fleeing car on U.S. 31 after midnight pulls in two state-police districts, two sheriff's offices, two town police departments, a fire department and medical crews across two counties.
Why U.S. 31 at night matters to truckers and local drivers
U.S. 31 is one of Indiana's principal north-south routes, carrying commuter traffic, farm traffic and a steady stream of trucks between Indianapolis, Kokomo, Rochester, Plymouth and South Bend. Overnight, when traffic thins, it is also a corridor where a 130 mph fleeing car meets drivers who have no reason to expect one: the other motorist in this case, hit at 17th Road, was treated for minor injuries, and the felony at the top of Freville's charge list — resisting law enforcement with a vehicle causing injury — reflects that injury. Police have not said why the Tesla was being driven at speed near Olson Road in the first place, beyond the speeding and distracted-driving reasons given for the attempted stop.
What happens next
Freville remains in the Fulton County Jail on the nine preliminary charges. Prosecutors in the counties involved will decide the formal charges from the state police investigation file, and Freville will make his first court appearances on the felony and misdemeanour counts. The condition of the other driver, treated at the scene, has not been updated in the reports published so far, and police have released no further detail about the signal jammer beyond its discovery in the Tesla.