On Monday, Feb. 10, a Chicago, man was arrested on multiple charges following an investigation that covered three counties along I-65 in southern Indiana.
According to Indiana State Police Sgt. Stephen Wheeles, shortly before 8 a.m., officers with the Scottsburg Police Department received a report of a robbery at the Circle K gas station on West McClain Ave (State Road 56). Law enforcement agencies were told to look for a black 2019 Volkswagen Tiguan SUV with Tennessee license plate and a black male driver.
Around 8:10 a.m., Seymour Police Officers observed the vehicle on I-65 Northbound near the 50 mile marker in Jackson County. Officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop on the vehicle but the driver, Mekyell Brown-Champion, 25, of Chicago fled in the vehicle northbound at a high rate of speed.
Brown-Champion continued northbound into Bartholomew County where he exited I-65 onto State Road 46 at Columbus. He traveled westbound on State Road 46 before ultimately turning around and attempting to get back onto I-65 Southbound.
While traveling on the on-ramp, ISP Trooper Randel Miller conducted a Precision Immobilization Technique (PIT) Maneuver which cause the Volkswagen to spin around and become disabled, safely ending the pursuit.
After Brown-Champion was taken into custody he was found to be wanted on a warrant out of Illinois. The vehicle he was driving had been reported stolen out Nashville, Tennessee recently.
Scottsburg Police officers arrested him and transported him back to the Scott County Jail where he was booked in at 10:17 a.m. on local charges of armed robbery, robbery with bodily injury, theft, criminal trespass, battery with bodily injury, and auto theft.
Scott Circuit Court Magistrate Alison T. Frazier set Brown-Champion’s bond at $150,000 full cash only.