MONTGOMERY COUNTY — A man is dead after taking police on a 70-mile chase across five counties Tuesday afternoon.
It began in Noblesville and ended in a fatal crash just outside Crawfordsville in Montgomery County.
According to Noblesville police, an off-duty Noblesville police officer was in her marked cruiser with her father when she was flagged down to assist with a disturbance between a man and woman in a parking lot.
As they were getting out of the police car, 45-year-old Edward Albright of Noblesville managed to get inside the vehicle. The officer and her father tried to pull Albright out of the car but were unsuccessful. During the struggle, Albright allegedly battered both the officer and her father and sprayed both with chemical spray which he had with him.
Albright then drove off in the police car and got as far as Fishers, where he went into another parking lot and pulled a man out of his 2006 Toyota Avalon.
With police now involved in the pursuit and Albright in the Toyota, the chase headed to Interstate-69, then crossed Marion County on I-465. On the city's west side, he got on I-74 and headed into Hendricks and then Montgomery counties.
The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office says Albright tried to get off the highway outside Crawfordsville at the State Road 32 exit. Instead, the vehicle hit a car and a truck. The semi driver was not hurt, but the driver of the other vehicle, a 76-year-old man, suffered injuries not believed to be life-threatening.
Albright was dead at the scene.
Officers from a number of surrounding cities, counties and Indiana State Police assisted with the pursuit. There were several attempts to stop the chase utilizing intervention devices but Albright reportedly maneuvered around all of them.
The off-duty officer and her father were treated at Riverview Health and released. The owner of the Toyota was treated at the scene
I-74 in Montgomery County was closed for a time at the crash scene.
