FORT WAYNE – A 35-year-old man wanted by South Whitley police has been arrested in Fort Wayne after leading officers on a chase that ended when he crashed a stolen pickup into a garage, authorities said.
Steven A. Waid Jr. was arguing with a man over parking at the Marathon gas station on South State Street in South Whitley about 8 a.m. Thursday and displayed a handgun, according to South Whitley police Chief David Wilkinson.
The man alerted police, who started looking for Waid. When police found Waid about two hours later in South Whitley, he drove off and crashed into a parked vehicle. He then ditched his vehicle, fled on foot, stole an idling Chevrolet pickup and managed to elude officers, Wilkinson said.
South Whitley Elementary and Whitko High School were placed on lockdown as officers searched for Waid, the chief said.
Having been notified about the theft, Fort Wayne police spotted the pickup driven by Waid early Friday near Lake Avenue and Coliseum Boulevard, said officer Raquel Foster, a city police spokeswoman.
When an officer tried to pull over the pickup, Waid fled. The chase ended more than two miles away when he ran into the garage of a home on Solitude Place, Foster said. No one was hurt in the collision, and Waid was arrested, she said.
Waid, of Warsaw, was being held without bail Saturday at the Allen County Jail. Locally, he faces charges of felony resisting law enforcement and misdemeanor criminal recklessness. Charges are pending against him in Whitley County, and he has a warrant for his arrest in Kosciusko County.
