Woman escapes handcuffs, steals squad car, crashes and dies in Indiana, police say
LA CROSSE, Ind. (CBS) -- Indiana State Police late Friday were trying to figure out how a woman in police custody managed to escape her handcuffs – and steal a LaPorte County police sport-utility vehicle.
It all started late Thursday night, when a Westville, Indiana police officer tried to stop a vehicle on U.S. 421. The driver failed to yield, and police chased her south on U.S. 421, then west on U.S. 30 in Porter County, according to the LaPorte county Sheriff's office.
Before reaching State Road 49, the fleeing driver got back onto eastbound U.S. 30 and back into LaPorte County. Police terminated the pursuit in the interest of safety, but the driver ended up crashing in the 14000 block of U.S. 421, LaPorte County police said.
Melissa Collins, 21, of Lafayette, Indiana, was taken into custody and handcuffed at the scene. She was secured in the front passenger seat of a 2021 Ford Explorer police car assigned to LaPorte County Deputy David Grimberg, state police said.
But somehow, Collins got out of the handcuffs, unbuckled the seatbelt, and drove off in the police car, state police said. Officers tried to chase Collins, but she got away, state police said.
As they looked for the stolen police car, state police came upon debris in the roadway in the area of 2100 S and 875 W outside La Crosse, Indiana. They went on to find the stolen police car submerged in the water in a ditch, state police said.
It appeared that Collins had crashed the squad car after crossing some railroad tracks at a very high speed, state police said.
Collins was found dead inside the SUV. An autopsy by the LaPorte County Coroner's office was to determine the cause and manner of her death.