NORTH MANCHESTER,IN On Wednesday July 6, 2016 at about 12:13 PM, an employee of NAPA Auto Parts, 708 West Main Street, North Manchester notified the North Manchester Police Department that their delivery vehicle had been stolen from in front of the store. The vehicle was a 2012 Ford Focus. Police were given a description of a possible suspect. NMPD Detective James Kirk went toCasey’s General Store and was able to view a video of the subject who was in the store just prior to this incident.
At about 1:21 PM, Police Chief Steve Olsen spotted the vehicle at Jamestown Apartments. He saw a male matching the description of the suspect standing outside on the sidewalk. Olsen, who was in an unmarked vehicle, stayed by the entrance of the apartment complex waiting for assisting police units. Olsen then saw the stolen vehicle drive away. Olsen followed and radioed in the location of the of the vehicle to incoming units. When the vehicle turned north on SR 13, Wabash County Sheriff’s Deputy Steve Hicks was able to get behind the vehicle. The vehicle stopped once on Villa Court and as Deputy Hicks started to get out of his marked police car, the vehicle got away. Hicks and North Manchester Police Officer Sergeant Greg Tomlinson pursued the vehicle. The vehicle went north on SR 13, turned west on 1000 South in Kosciusko County and went north on Packerton Road. The suspect vehicle came to a stop at 700 South and the driver was taken into custody without incident by Hicks and Tomlinson. The driver, Samuel Lopez, North Manchester, was charged with theft of an auto, resisting law enforcement, reckless driving and various traffic violations.