Stolen car found thanks to flat tire

UNIONTOWN, Ind. (WISH) - A flat tire led to the recovery of a stolen vehicle, police said, and the arrest of the two people in it.

Indiana State Police said Trooper Matt Holley came upon a disabled vehicle at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday on the Exit 41 ramp on Interstate 65, the Uniontown exit in Jackson County. A gray 2007 Ford Mustang was sitting at the bottom of the ramp, and at the top of the ramp he found two people, who told him they needed a tire iron to change a flat tire.

He told the pair he would assist them, but he discovered the car had been reported stolen from Missouri.

He placed one of the two, Spencer David Rehm, 24, St. Joseph, Mo., in handcuffs, but before he was able to get him into his patrol car, Rehm escaped the cuffs and ran away. The officer tried to stop him with a stun gun, but could not hit him as he ran.

Holley called for help as he arrested the other person, Whitney Nicole Koontz, 24, Smithville, Mo..

ISP troopers and Jackson County Sheriff’s Department deputies searched the area until about 10 p.m., when the search was called off due to darkness.

But just before 11:30 p.m., two Jackson County deputies found Rehm on Ind. 250, east of Uniontown, and arrested him without incident.

He is now facing preliminary charges of receiving stolen property, resisting law enforcement and escape. Koontz is preliminarily charged with receiving stolen property.