A man who led as many as 20 squad cars on a low-speed chase from Calumet to Crown Point early Friday morning allegedly told officers he was smoking crack while fleeing from them, police said.
The chase started around 3 a.m. at 40th and Grant Street in Calumet Township. A Lake County sheriff's deputy saw a Chevy Lumina run a red light and attempted to pull it over. But the car kept going, veering toward two police cars and forcing them off the road.
The chase continued through Merrillville, where police put stop sticks on 73rd Avenue, but the driver was able to avoid them. Then in Crown Point, police put more stop sticks on the road at 93rd and Madison, and the car went over them, blowing out its tires.
But it didn't stop there. The driver kept going, eventually losing his tires entirely and driving on the rims through downtown Crown Point. A horde of police and sheriff's department cars were behind him when he finally came to a stop in the 13200 block of Route 55.
Police had to forcibly remove the driver, Thomas Misko, a 22-year-old man from Gary. He kicked one of the officers, who found a crack pipe on the front seat of the car, police said.
Misko told officers he'd been getting high on crack as police chased him across Northwest Indiana, a police news release said.
Misko was charged with resisting arrest, but more charges are expected, the release said.
