Woman dies after leading vehicle pursuit, getting arrested and fleeing in county cop car resulting in fatal crash, police said

On Wednesday night, an officer from Westville Police Department attempted to stop a vehicle along U.S. 421. The driver, who has been identified as Melissa Collins, failed to yield resulting in a pursuit continuing southbound on U.S. 421 then west on U.S. 30 into Porter County, police said. 

"Prior to reaching State Road 49, the fleeing vehicle turned and began traveling back eastbound on U.S. 30 and into LaPorte County again," the LaPorte County's Sheriff's Office said in a news release. "The vehicle turned southbound on U.S. 421 where a decision was made to terminate the pursuit in the interest of safety."

Several minutes later, Collins crashed the vehicle in the 14000 block of U.S. 421. Collins was handcuffed on scene and secured in the front passenger seat of a 2021 Ford Explorer assigned to Deputy David Grimberg, police said.

"It was determined that the suspect was able to manipulate the handcuffs, unbuckled the seatbelt, took possession of the police car and drove away from the scene in the stolen vehicle," Indiana State Police said.  

Officers on scene attempted to locate Collins in the stolen police car, but lost sight of the vehicle. 

"As they were looking for the stolen police car, they came upon debris in the roadway in the area of 2100 S. and 875 W., and they located the stolen vehicle submerged in water in a ditch," police said. 

Evidence indicated Collins crashed after crossing a set of railroad tracks at an extremely high rate of speed, ISP said. She was located inside the vehicle and later pronounced dead by the coroner's office. The cause and manner of death have not been released yet.