Plainfield police chase ends after driver crashes into Indianapolis pond, dies
UPDATE: The driver who died after crashing into a pond during a police chase has been identified as 19-year-old Jayden Armstead, the Marion County Coroner’s Office said Thursday.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A Plainfield Police Department chase ended Tuesday afternoon when the driver crashed into a pond in Indianapolis, got trapped in the car and died, a department spokesman says.
No information about the driver was immediately available Tuesday night.
Deputy Chief Joe Aldridge says officers had tried to stop a driver about 2:50 p.m. Tuesday for going through a red light in the 3100 block of Ronald Reagan Parkway south of U.S. 40/Main Street. That’s in an area with multiple warehouses about 2 miles north of the I-70 interchange.
The chase went from there to U.S. 40, where the driver hit another vehicle, continued to flee eastward and eventually turned onto Girls School Road in Indianapolis.
On South Girls School Road, the car went off the road near Moon Drive and hit a tree before going into a pond. That’s near the Sungate housing subdivision and an Amazon Fulfillment Center, and about a mile southwest of the I-465 interchange for Rockville Road.
Aldridge says officers immediately jumped into the pond to try to save the driver, but could not free the driver trapped in the car.
He says the officer who initiated the chase will be put on administrative leave, a standard practice.
Indiana State Police will be investigating the crash, Aldridge said.