The name of the driver in the reported multi-county pursuit was released Thursday afternoon.
Police say it was 31-year-old Clarence Shearer, of Fort Wayne, who carjacked a black 2016 Chrysler from the Lifeplex parking lot in Plymouth Wednesday afternoon and fled eastbound on U.S. 30 leading officers from several police agencies on a chase through multiple counties.
According to information released by the Indiana State Police, a passenger, Avory Shearer, got out of the Chrysler near Meijer Drive on U.S. 30 in Kosciusko County and Shearer continued to flee in the vehicle.
As the pursuit entered Whitley County, police say a county deputy positioned his car at the intersection of U.S. 30 and County Road 450 W. and set up stop sticks to stop the suspect’s vehicle, but Shearer allegedly attempted to avoid the stop sticks and broadsided a Whitley County deputy’s vehicle on the passenger side which burst into flames. A K9 patrol dog in the deputy’s car perished as rescuers could not get to the dog in time. The deputy was not injured.
Shearer was treated at Parkview Hospital in Columbia City, and then released into the custody of authorities. Shearer has charges pending in this incident and the subsequent crash that took the life of the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department patrol K9. He was booked into the Allen County Jail. Those charges will be released once filed. Shearer also has several active warrants out of Allen County.
The passenger of the vehicle was arrested by the Plymouth Police Department and is incarcerated at the Marshall County Jail.
The pursuit and crash involved officers from the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office, Warsaw Police Department. Whitley County Sheriff’s Department, Pierceton Police Department, Winona Lake Police Department, and Indiana State Police.
