LaPorte County, Ind. — Indiana State Police are investigating how a woman managed to escape police custody and steal a LaPorte County squad car minutes before dying in a crash this week.
Late on Wednesday evening, an officer with the Westville Police Department tried to stop and pull over a vehicle that was driving along U.S. 421. ISP said the driver, identified as 21-year-old Melissa Collins of Lafayette, allegedly ignored the officer’s instructions and continued driving southbound on U.S. 421 before heading west on U.S. 30 into Porter County.
At some point in the chase, ISP said the woman turned the direction of the vehicle and began traveling eastbound on U.S. 30 to head back into LaPorte County. It was at that point that the officer decided to call off the pursuit to maintain public safety.
A short time later, police were notified of a crash that had occurred along the 14000 block of U.S. 421, according to ISP. Police quickly learned that the vehicle in the crash was the same one that had fled from the WPD officer minutes earlier.
Collins was placed into handcuffs and placed inside a LaPorte County squad car after police arrived at the crash scene. An investigation into the incident revealed that the woman had been secured in the front passenger seat of the 2021 Ford Explorer police car.
At some point, Collins found a way to “manipulate” the handcuffs and unbuckle her seatbelt, according to ISP. She is then alleged to have assumed control of the vehicle and drove the squad car away from the scene, ISP said.
Another search for the same woman was underway.
ISP said officers who were already at the scene attempted to make up the lost ground but could not catch up to the stolen police car.
A short time later, these same officers reportedly discovered debris scattered across a roadway near 2100 S. and 875 W. near the town of La Crosse in LaPorte County. Upon further analysis, officers observed the stolen vehicle submerged in the water of a nearby ditch.
Preliminary information indicates that the suspect crashed the stolen vehicle after passing by a set of railroad tracks while driving at an “extremely high rate of speed,” according to ISP.
Police found the woman’s body inside the vehicle. She was pronounced dead at the scene by the LaPorte County Coroner’s Office. The exact cause of death will be determined at a later date when an autopsy is performed by the coroner.
