Police: Man hit cop car, flipped off officer before fleeing
Police say a 39-year-old Brown County man led police in a high-speed chase and seriously damaged a police car on Nov. 19.
On Nov. 22, Jonathon Browning, of Long Lake Road, was charged with resisting law enforcement, a Level 6 felony; criminal recklessness, a Level 6 felony; leaving the scene of an accident, a Class B misdemeanor; and reckless driving, a Class C misdemeanor.
Just before 9:30 p.m., Nashville Police Officer Justin Anderson was driving north on Van Buren Street when Browning allegedly hit the rear of Anderson’s vehicle. After feeling the impact, Anderson reported that he slowed and moved over to make contact with the driver, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Browning stopped his vehicle next to the officer’s, and Browning rolled his window down and said, “Hey man, it’s all good. Just give me a high five” with his left hand in the air, the officer wrote.
Anderson told him he needed to pull up and over so he could take an accident report. At this point, Browning reportedly flipped Anderson off and took off at a high rate of speed north on Van Buren Street, according to the affidavit.
Browning turned onto West Main Street with Anderson following. The officer reported to dispatch that he was involved in a pursuit. The two vehicles were approaching the Snyder Road intersection on Old State Road 46 when Browning’s vehicle came to an abrupt stop and Anderson tapped the rear of his vehicle, the affidavit states.
Browning then pulled forward about 15 yards and stopped again. Anderson exited his vehicle and had Browning at gunpoint, but before Anderson could report to dispatch, Browning put his vehicle in reverse and hit Anderson’s police car again, the officer wrote.
This impact caused the driver’s side door to strike the officer’s left shoulder, causing “immediate pain,” he wrote. That impact also disabled the police car’s headlights and part of the emergency lights on the grill.
Browning then took off again at a high rate of speed, driving on both sides of the road on Old 46. He also had his left hand out the window, flipping Anderson off as he drove at what Anderson reported to be around 60 MPH.
Anderson followed Browning onto Clay Lick Road and Browning reportedly continued to make hard stops before taking off again.
Due to his vehicle’s damage, Anderson had responding deputies with the Brown County Sheriff’s Office take over the pursuit. The units all turned right onto Long Lake Road and drove to the end of the road. At this point, the vehicle had driven over a narrow bridge that went up a fire trail coming out at Kelly Reed Road, the affidavit states.
Anderson and Sgt. Scott Bowling with the sheriff’s department followed the trail northeast and reported finding the vehicle with no occupants inside or signs of anyone nearby it. The vehicle was towed from the scene.
Anderson was able to confirm Browning as the driver by looking at his driver’s license photo on file with the BMV, and verifying that Browning was a relative of the vehicle owner, his report said.
Browning was booked into the Brown County jail at 10:05 a.m. Nov. 19 and was released less than two hours later on $9,500 bond.
Nashville Chief of Police Ben Seastrom told the town council at the Nov. 21 meeting that Anderson’s police car might be totaled, and he received permission to buy a replacement if needed.
Lafayette man faces two felonies
Police say a Lafayette man wrote a Brown County couple a fake check when he purchased an RV from them in July.
Christopher Hollingsworth, 31, of Lafayette, was charged on Nov. 21 with check deception and auto theft, both Level 6 felonies.
It began on July 29 when Capt. Mike Moore with the Brown County Sheriff’s Department first received the forgery complaint. A woman told Moore that she and her husband had sold their camper and that day they received notice from their bank that the check Hollingsworth used to pay them on July 27 was fake, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Her husband had received a text from someone about purchasing the RV. When they arrived, the couple requested photo ID and that man gave the husband a driver’s license in Hollingsworth’s name and not the name of the person who originally texted. The ID photo looked like the man wanting to purchase the RV, the affidavit states.
Hollingsworth filled the check out in front of the couple at their home, and arrangements were made that the husband would be the lienholder on the RV until the check was cashed. Then, they would meet halfway for the husband to sign off on the title after that, according to the affidavit.
On July 29, the husband went to cash the check and was advised it was a fraud, that the account number on the check did not belong to Hollingsworth. The bank seized the check and made a copy of it. When the husband tried to contact Hollingsworth about the issue, he received no response.
A rep from the bank told Moore that the routing and account numbers are real, but that they did not belong to Hollingsworth. She also said that Hollingsworth had an account at that bank.
Later on July 29, the husband provided Moore with photos of social media posts where Hollingsworth’s relative had listed the RV for sale in Lafayette. The RV was reported stolen. On July 30, Moore received a tip that the RV was possibly at an address in Lafayette and that people were going there that day to purchase it, according to the affidavit.
Moore then notified the Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Department to go try to find the RV at that address. It ended up being an RV storage location.
That day, Moore was also contacted by the man whose name Hollingsworth used in the original text about purchasing the RV in Brown County. He was told by his bank that someone had attempted to cash check in his name at another bank.
He told Moore that his wallet had gone missing about a month ago while he was moving. He thought he accidentally packed the wallet and just replaced his license and other cards in the wallet. But he recently received notification that his identification had been used to attempt to open accounts in his name, the affidavit states.
Moore told the man to report his wallet stolen to local authorities in Lafayette, and the man did.
The RV was then recovered at the RV storage location. Police found that Hollingsworth had signed the rental agreement for the space, the affidavit said.
Hollingsworth was arrested by Tippecanoe County deputies. He told police he had purchased the vehicle, according to the affidavit.
On July 31, Hollingsworth was supposed to meet Moore for an interview. He told Moore over the phone he purchased the RV with cash and that he did not write a check for it. Moore informed him the two would need to meet in person to take his statement.
Hollingsworth did not make his appointment with Moore on July 31.
He was charged in Brown Circuit Court on Nov. 21.
Pharmacy employee arrested for theft
A pharmacy employee was arrested at work for stealing medications following an internal investigation.
Emili Hefler, 27, of Columbus, was charged on Nov. 14 with theft and possession of controlled substances, both Class A misdemeanors.
On Nov. 5, Nashville Police Officer Justin Anderson responded to a report of a possible intoxicated driver driving west on State Road 46 East just before 9 a.m. Anderson later found the vehicle parked in the CVS parking lot.
The vehicle was empty, and after waiting for around 25 minutes to see if the driver would come back out to it, Anderson went inside to see if the driver worked in the store. A store manager informed him that it was Hefler’s vehicle and she worked in the pharmacy, according to the probable cause affidavit.
The pharmacist told Anderson that Hefler was under internal investigation due to possibly stealing medications in the pharmacy. The pharmacist said that the district manager and loss prevention representatives were coming in that day to handle the situation, the affidavit states.
The pharmacist said Hefler did not smell of alcohol, but she was acting stranger, and that that was not a rare occurrence in the last few months.
About an hour and a half later, Anderson was told that Hefler was in an interview with loss prevention representatives and would be leaving the premises because footage of her stealing the products was caught on the store’s security camera. Anderson and another officer waited in the parking lot in case they needed assistance.
The district manager then came out at about 11:30 a.m. and told Anderson that Hefler also had admitted to stealing the medication. The district manger asked that charges be filed against Hefler.
Anderson went in to collect the pills that had been confiscated from Hefler, which were an appetite suppressant and painkiller, the affidavit states.
Hefler did not answer any questions from Anderson and she was placed in handcuffs outside of the store. While emptying her pockets, Hefler had another 50 mg pain pill in her possession, the police report said.
She was arrested and taken to the Brown County jail.
