100 mile-per-hour pursuit ends in crash

WARSAW, Ind. (WANE) After leading Warsaw police officers on a car chase that reached speeds of over 100 miles-per-hour, crashing into a tree, and then climbing up another tree, a Warsaw man was arrested and faces felony charges of resisting arrest with a vehicle, fleeing law enforcement, and criminal recklessness.

Police were called to North Park Avenue to investigate a complaint of criminal mischief around 3:30 a.m. on Saturday. Police saw a silver car with no lights on drive out of Lucerne Park at a high speed.

A Warsaw officer caught up to the car which eventually started driving at speeds of over 100 miles-per-hour. At County Road 600, the car turned west. The police officer lost track of the car because of snowy conditions but soon found that the car had run into a tree.

Police saw one set of shoe prints in the snow leading away from the driver's door. Three other people in the car were arrested on the scene. A K9 unit tracked the suspected driver, who was found stuck eight-feet up in a tree at 4:29 a.m.

The Atwood Fire Department  had to be called in to free the driver, who was identified as Jeremy J. Neibert, 23, of Winona Lake. According to police, Neibert smelled strongly of alcohol and denied any involvement in the incident. He refused a chemical test but police obtained a search warrant for a blood draw; the results of the test are pending.

The three other occupants of the car were released without charged. Neibert faces felony charges of resisting arrest with a vehicle, fleeing law enforcement, and criminal recklessness. Charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated are pending based on the results of the blood draw.