Plymouth Man Pleads Not Guilty to Eight Charges in Starke Circuit Court

Dale Hite

A Plymouth resident plead not guilty to eight charges in an incident that occurred in Starke County on October 16th, 2009.

Dale Hite appeared for his initial hearing in Starke Circuit Court Monday morning where he plead not guilty to two counts of Resisting Law Enforcement Resulting in Death, two counts of Reckless Homicide, and one count each of Resisting Law Enforcement, Possession of Methamphetamine, Failure to Stop at a Stop Sign and Failure to use Headlights from Sunset to Sunrise. His bond was set at $100,000 surety.

On October 16th, 2009, officers from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department were investigating a manufacturing methamphetamine call and when officers arrived on scene and began searching for evidence, a vehicle approached the residence and then suddenly sped from the residence which was approximately one quarter mile north of County Road 600 North on County Road 700 East in Grovertown. As police pursued the vehicle on 600 North, the vehicle’s headlights turned off and all the officer could see was the tail lamps. The vehicle then went off the road at 10320 East 600 North and ran into some trees. Police indicate that the vehicle was traveling 124 miles per hour at the time of the crash. Amber McMillen and Nicholas White, both of Plymouth, were ejected from the vehicle and died of injuries at the scene. Dale Hite was airlifted from the scene. Police allegedly found methamphetamine in Hite’s pants pocket.

At the time, police didn’t know who was driving the vehicle. An Indiana State Police detective interviewed Hite in April of this year where he allegedly admitted to being the primary driver of the vehicle but denied driving the vehicle at the time of the accident. According to court records, evidence taken from the scene indicates that Hite was the driver at the time of the accident.

Hite was brought to Starke County on Friday, December 16th to face charges after he had been incarcerated on drug related charges in Marshall County.