Female suspect flees after she assaults a police officer during a shoplifting incident

INDIANAPOLIS – Female suspect assaults police officer then flees to a vehicle driven by a male suspect who is later critically injured after crashing the suspect vehicle.

Just after 2:00 a.m. a late shift North District Officer while working, on-duty in uniform, is conducting a premises check of the Kroger grocery store located in the 1300 block of E. 86th Street. The officer observes an unidentified female stealing several bottles of liquor. The officer strategically waits until the female passes all points of purchases and approaches her about his suspicion. As he begins his investigation, probable cause is established to arrest the female suspect, at which point the female suspect punches the officer in the face causing an injury to his lip. During a struggle to gain control of the now resisting female suspect, who is small in physical stature, the officer sustains injuries to both of his hands in addition to both knuckles, and a forearm. The female suspect was able to break free from the officer and flee toward an awaiting suspect vehicle. Inside the suspect vehicle was unidentified male in the driver’s seat; the female suspect jumps into the driver’s lap and orders the suspect driver to take off.

The officer still a bit discombobulated gathers himself and makes notification via his police radio that suspects are fleeing in a car. The officer gets to his police vehicle and activates his emergency equipment, and gets to the intersection of E. 86th St. and Westfield and can’t immediately find the fleeing vehicle. He looks south and sees taillights of a vehicle going south on Westfield Boulevard that he now believes is the suspect vehicle. The vehicle is several hundred feet in front of the officer when the officer sees a sudden cloud of smoke. The officer arrives within seconds and sees an inverted vehicle with a trapped male driver. The suspect vehicle had struck a utility pole and was catching fire. Fire personnel arrived and extricated the male driver who was transported to St. Vincent Hospital in critical but stable condition. The female suspect escaped and had fled on foot into the neighborhoods.

After an extensive search using IMPD K-9’s, the female suspect was not located. Investigators are working to confirm her identity before releasing a physical description. The male suspect driver has been identified as 28-year-old Joshua Draper of Indianapolis who was also wanted on an outstanding warrant from Marion County for Possession and dealing cocaine, resisting law enforcement, and possession of marijuana.