A Merrillville man was sentenced to 2.5 years probation Feb. 14 in a plea deal for leading cops on a high-speed chase into Chicago, then crashing into a tree.
Gerald D. Fisher III, 21, pleaded guilty Aug. 10 to resisting law enforcement, a Level 6 felony.
His lawyer Lakeisha Murdaugh said he was “very intelligent” and knew the “seriousness of his actions.”
Court records show he was on probation in Cook County for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. He also had a Dec. 21, 2021 warrant for fleeing the cops.
Deputy Prosecutor Jovanni Miramontes said the plea was the “maximum” of what he could prove.
Judge Salvador Vasquez was skeptical. Fisher put many drivers in danger and could have gotten himself killed in the crash.
“Frankly, I’m thinking you ought to go to prison,” he told Fisher.
“I don’t like this plea,” he said later. “I should never have to see you again.”
A charging affidavit alleges the chase started just before 10 a.m. Jan. 11, 2022 near the 4800 block of Ridge Road by the Goodwill Outlet when Fisher passed a cop in a gray Honda Accord with a temporary license plate going east from Burr Street at a “high rate of speed.”
Dispatchers said he had been swerving and passing other cars in the middle lane.
The officer activated his lights and chased Fisher as he turned and sped up Grant Street to Interstate 80/94 to Chicago.
Several Gary officers and a Lake County Sheriff’s helicopter joined the chase. One officer said he blew every stoplight on Grant, nearly hitting several cars, while another estimated Fisher was going “over 100 miles per hour” on the highway.
Several Chicago cops joined once he crossed the state line. Fisher got off on the Stoney Island exit in Chicago where he hit several cars and blew through several stoplights, the affidavit states.
He turned on 76th Street, drove on the sidewalk, and turned the wrong way onto the 7500 block of S. Clyde Avenue, before crashing into a tree.
He ran and jumped nearby fences. Officers arrested him two blocks east on the 7500 block of S. Merrill Avenue and brought him back to the crash site where a cop identified him as the driver.