Dejuan Beal faces 10 charges in auto theft

Car thief batters trooper's car and assaults the officer

Contributed By:The 411 News

Thursday’s early morning capture of the driver in a stolen vehicle was a cat and mouse chase from the interstate to a foot pursuit on the streets of Gary, ending with a book of charges against Dejuan Beal.

Indiana State Police Trooper Ala’a Hamed was on patrol in his marked cruiser travelling east bound on I-80/9, at approximately 2:18 a.m. on June 5, when a 2017 Mazda passed at a high rate of speed.

Trooper Hamed was able to catch up with the Mazda, pacing it for two miles at 91 mph in a well posted 55 mph speed zone. During this time, Trooper Hamed saw the Mazda make multiple unsafe lane movements, following too closely and drive off the roadway onto the shoulder. When the officer activated his emergency lights to make a traffic stop, the Mazda failed to pull over and accelerated.

A search of the Illinois license plate revealed the vehicle was stolen.

The Mazda sped up to 110 mph and exited north on Grant Street in Gary, disregarding a traffic light. Continuing north on Grant, the Mazda reached 70 mph in a posted 30 mph zone.

At 9th Avenue, the Mazda suddenly and rapidly decreased its speed (during the time of the pursuit traffic was very light) allowing Hamed to maneuver his police car to the Mazda’s passenger side. Next, the Mazda’s driver intentionally rammed the front driver’s side of Hamed’s police car. After ramming the police car, the Mazda’s passenger side wrapped around the front end of the police car and spun into the east curb coming to a stop.

Both the driver and a passenger, identified as black males, fled from the vehicle and Trooper Hamed began a foot pursuit.

Hamed chased the driver through a series of backyards and lost sight of him. Gary Police arrived and helped search for the subject. He was located hiding behind a bush in the backyard of a residence in the 1600 block of West 9th Avenue. Griffith Police K-9 officers arrived and searched the area for the passenger who fled, but was unable to locate him.

The driver, who had no identification on him, verbally provided a false name and was later identified to be Dejuan T. Beal, 21 from Chicago. It was later discovered that Beal had only paid $30.00 dollars for the 2017 Mazda and was not given a key fob for it.

Beal was transported to South Lake Methodist Hospital in Merrillville where a blood draw for intoxication was done. He was then taken to Lake County Jail in Crown Point and charged with:
Receiving Stolen Auto Parts with a Prior Conviction-Level 5 Felony
Receiving Stolen Auto Parts-Level 6 Felony
Resisting Law Enforcement with a Vehicle-Level 6 Felony
Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer-Level 6 Felony
Resisting Law Enforcement-Class A Misdemeanor
Conversion-Class A Misdemeanor
False Identity Statement-Class A Misdemeanor
OWI Endangerment-Class A Misdemeanor
Reckless Driving-Class B Misdemeanor
Operating a Vehicle without ever Receiving a License-Class C Misdemeanor

Story Posted:06/07/2019