3 men arrested after early-morning car chase

A man driving a stolen car led police on an early-morning chase in downtown Bloomington on Tuesday.

Chad M. Panti, 32, of Gary, was later arrested at a house in the 900 block of West Seventh Street, said Lt. David Drake of the Bloomington Police Department.

While on patrol at 2:52 a.m., Officer Kyle Abram saw a white 1997 Pontiac Grand Am driving near Eleventh Street and North College Avenue, Drake said.

The officer ran the vehicle’s license plate number and determined the vehicle had been stolen from Hendricks County.

Abram attempted to stop the vehicle at the intersection of Tenth Street and College Avenue, but the car sped off, heading south bound on College, before turning west onto Seventh Street and striking a lamp post.

The vehicle continued to flee down Seventh Street, approaching North Elm Street before the driver slammed on the breaks.

The driver lost control of the vehicle and went off the road, getting stuck in a muddy area near the Banneker Community Center, Drake said.

A K-9 unit tracked the driver to a home on West Seventh Street. When officers knocked on the door, a man later identified as Bruce Terry, 57, of Bloomington, told the officers he “would be there in a minute.”

No one answered the door and officers obtained a search warrant, Drake said. They forced their way inside the first door, which led to the porch.

A second door was locked and barricaded with couches. Officers forced entry again and found three men inside the home as well as marijuana, cocaine and syringes.

One of the men was Panti.

Panti was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, possession of a stolen vehicle, illegal possession of a syringe and resisting law enforcement with a vehicle, which is a Class D felony.

Terry was charged with possession of cocaine, assisting a criminal and maintaining a common nuisance.

The third man in the home, Brian J. Hoops, 27, of La Porte, Ind., was charged with visiting a common nuisance.

— Jake New