Staff reports
BEAN BLOSSOM — A local man was arrested on Oct. 21 after he reportedly fled police in a vehicle while driving at least 70 MPH on Gatesville Road.
Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy William Pool was in his vehicle in the Bean Blossom Dollar General parking lot when he saw a Ford Focus with a light bar on it turn onto Gatesville Road.
Pool knew the car was owned by Benjamin Voils IV, 19, of Carmel Ridge Road, who had a warrant out for his arrest. When Pool began to follow the vehicle on Gatesville Road, it began to speed up.
Pool reported he was driving about 70 MPH to keep up and get a license plate number. The vehicle then made a left turn into a driveway in the 800 block. Before Pool could catch up with the vehicle, the driver’s side door opened and a man got out and ran into the woods.
Pool patted a passenger down for weapons, then pursued the driver on foot. He ran about 20 yards before hearing Voils fall while running through brush. He found Voils face-down with his arms underneath him and arrested him, the report said.
While walking back to his patrol car, Pool reported finding multiple sandwich baggies along the driveway. One contained marijuana, he said.
Pool also reported smelling marijuana in Voils’ vehicle, and a search yielded a grinder in the center console. Voils said it belonged to his brother, but that he would take the charge if necessary, the report said.
Loose marijuana “shake” was found on Voils, his passenger and inside the car, the report said.
Voils was taken to the Brown County jail. His vehicle was towed.
On Oct. 22, he was charged with resisting law enforcement, a Class A misdemeanor; possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor; and possession of paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor.
Police: Man had syringes in vehicle
JACKSON TWP. — An Indianapolis man faces a drug-related felony in Brown County after conservation officers checked into why he was in a private driveway on Tulip Tree Road.
On Sept. 21, Indiana Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer Robert Klakamp was on patrol with fellow officer Dave Moss on the road which travels through Yellowwood State Forest. They saw a vehicle with a person standing by the driver’s side door and items on top of the car, the police report said.
As the officers approached the vehicle, the person by the door — Collin Trotta, 28 — jumped into the driver’s seat. Both people inside the car then began to move “furtively,” the affidavit states.
Trotta told officers there were no drugs in the car, but Moss reported seeing a bloody napkin and an uncapped syringe between the center console and driver’s seat. Trotta then told officers he had had shot up heroin after going to buy it in Bloomington.
The passenger, who described himself as a recovering addict, told the officer he was “just along for the ride” and that Trotta was homeless, so he was trying to help him.
A search of the car yielded a Ziploc bag with three syringes inside in the center console and two other loose syringes on the floor. The officers also reported finding a spoon with residue on it and a small piece of cotton between the passenger seat and center console. A metal bowl containing residue also was found on the vehicle’s floor, the report said.
Trotta was arrested. The passenger was given a ride to his home in Bartholomew County.
Trotta was charged Sept. 28 with unlawful possession of a syringe, a Level 6 felony.
