An Illinois man is in custody after leading state police on a chase on I-65 Wednesday, then slamming into multiple cop cars.
Thomas Sanhamel, 45, of West Chicago, Illinois, was charged Friday with over a dozen felonies, including attempted murder. He is in custody at the Lake County Jail, ordered held without bond.
Sanhamel later told police at the hospital that he was headed to Indiana and didn’t stop, since he “didn’t do anything wrong.”
A state trooper was patrolling Interstate 65 southbound at 3:15 p.m. July 12 about three miles north of Indiana 2 when a citizen notified him of a car driving 5 mph in the right lane. The trooper found the truck going 8 mph and tried to stop him, but the driver then sped away, ISP spokesman Sgt. Glen Fifield said previously.
The trooper started pursuing the truck southbound, where it almost hit people standing by a disabled semi parked on the right shoulder.
Troopers attempted to stop the truck using stop-sticks, and after a few tries, the sticks finally caught the driver side tire, Fifield said. The driver continued to try and flee driving 10 mph; when another trooper set out another set of stop sticks, the vehicle appeared to swerve toward him before taking off southbound and trying to hit a state police car.
The driver was then forced to drive to the median near the 238-mile marker and initially stopped, Fifield said in the release, but as troopers approached the truck, the driver suddenly accelerated and hit the troopers’ cars.
The suspect attempted to drive northbound in the southbound lanes, Fifield said, but ended up driving into a grassy ditch on the west side because of a traffic jam. While trying to get back on I-65, he rammed into a Jasper County Sheriff’s vehicle four times, which ended up disabling the truck for good.
Sanhamel was taken to Franciscan Crown Point to treat minor injuries. Three troopers were treated at the scene for minor injuries, and three police cars were damaged.
He is charged with Level 1 felony attempted murder, Level 5 felony attempted battery, four counts of Level 5 felony battery, one count of Level 6 felony attempted battery against a public safety official, four counts of Level 6 felony battery against a public safety official, and two counts of Level 6 felony resisting law enforcement.
