In less than two weeks, two high-speed police chases with the same man caused more than $30,000 in damage to a Center Grove area farm and to two vehicles on the southside, police said.
But after days of searching, police said they caught the man who managed to get away from officers last week.
Now, Bradley Criswell, 28, 314 McClure Blvd., Mooresville, faces multiple charges, including criminal recklessness and resisting law enforcement, in Johnson County and Marion County. And that doesn’t include a warrant issued for his arrest in Morgan County, police said.
Officers and police dogs searched for Criswell for hours Aug. 25 after a high-speed chase that went from Fry Road in Greenwood and ended near State Road 37 and Bluff Road. The chase and search locked down three Center Grove schools and caused $3,000 in damage to fields and produce owned by Indy Family Farms, where workers tried to help police catch the man when the pursuit crossed the farm’s property.
Police knew who Criswell was because, while he was running from police, a woman and her children were in the car with him, and the woman called 911, police said. The pursuit reached speeds of more than 70 mph on Fry Road, County Line Road and State Road 37. The truck then went off the road into a driveway on Fairview Road and crashed through two fences, drove onto farm fields and then crashed into a vehicle parked on the Indy Family Farms property, according to the police report.
The officer was able to follow the man until a wide river crossing, where the suspect lost him. Officers from multiple police departments set up a perimeter to search for Criswell. But after hours of looking for him, police called off the search, expecting they would be able to find him soon since they knew his name and where he lived.
Then, on Saturday morning, police were called to a southside apartment complex, where the same woman who was in the vehicle during the pursuit with Criswell told police he had hit her and stolen her truck.
The woman told Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers that she and Criswell had been driving around and he was demanding money. She told him she was going to call the police, since she knew there was a warrant out for his arrest, and he hit her and drove away in her truck, according to the police report.
Criswell then drove back into the parking lot, and officers tried to stop him, but he continued driving. Officers followed, and he pulled into a parking spot and then backed out, striking one of the police cars.
Officers chased Criswell around the southside but lost him. They set up a perimeter to look for him. He was found by officers and a police dog in a mobile home community, where he was arrested.
During the chase, Criswell crashed into the police car, another car and a camper, doing $36,000 damage, according to the police report from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
Criswell is now in the Marion County jail and has been charged with criminal recklessness, resisting law enforcement, operating a vehicle as a habitual traffic offender, domestic battery, battery resulting in bodily injury, leaving the scene of an accident and possession of paraphernalia, according to charging documents filed in Marion County.
He was wanted on a Morgan County warrant for two counts of theft.
Next, he will be transferred to Johnson County jail to face charges in the high-speed chase here, Greenwood police assistant chief Matt Fillenwarth said.
