Peru – Today, at approximately 2:40 p.m., Indiana State Troopers Luke Bowyer and Matthew Moon were conducting routine patrol on Canal Street in Peru. The officers allegedly observed a 2004 Yamaha motorcycle traveling eastbound on Canal Street with a fictitious license plate.
Trooper Bowyer activated the emergency lightening on his police car in an effort to make a traffic stop on the bike. The motorcycle driver, later identified as William Friend, 30, Peru, IN, allegedly refused to stop and instead accelerated. Friend led the troopers on a short pursuit (less than a tenth of a mile) and crashed while attempting to make a southbound turn onto Water Street.
As Friend was trying to get back on the motorcycle, in an attempt to continuing fleeing, he was captured by the troopers and taken into custody. Further investigation revealed Friend purportedly had marijuana on his person and was driving the Yamaha without a motorcycle endorsement.
Friend was incarcerated in the Miami County Jail to face criminal charges for resisting law enforcement with a vehicle and possession of marijuana. He was also issued citations for operating a vehicle with a false and fictitious registration and operating a motorcycle without an endorsement. He was not injured in the crash.
Both troopers were traveling in the same police car because they were conducting field training.
All criminal defendants are to be presumed innocent until, and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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