An Illinois man was arrested Friday, after he allegedly led LaPorte County Police on a motor vehicle pursuit through several fields and into LaPorte. Sheriff’s deputies say they pulled over a passenger vehicle for following another vehicle too closely near Range Road and U.S. 20 at around 10:00 a.m.
The driver reportedly exited the vehicle as requested. But after a police K-9 alerted officers to the presence of narcotics, police say the passenger locked the vehicle’s doors, rolled up the windows, moved into the driver’s seat and sped off.
Police say he turned off of Range Road and began traveling through a field, through a wooded area, and into another field. When another deputy located the vehicle on County Road 1000 North, the driver allegedly “began discarding unknown objects from the interior of the vehicle,” before turning into another field. Officers say the chase continued on County Road 925 then through yet another field, before heading south on State Road 39 into LaPorte. The chase finally ended when police say the driver crashed into a snow bank at the west end of Pennsylvania Avenue.
The driver, identified as Martin J. Devalois, 37, of Braidwood, Illinois, was taken to the LaPorte County Jail, and officers say they found a handgun inside the vehicle. Devalois is accused of resisting law enforcement and being a serious violent felon in possession of a firearm.
