Two individuals involved in a vehicle pursuit late last week have now been charged with felonies in Independence County Circuit Court.
On Aug. 23, the Batesville Police Department received information that Dustin Oliver Chadwell, 20, identified in court documents as an absconder, would soon be traveling to Batesville in a car described as maroon in color with dark tinted windows and black rims.
Dustin Oliver Chadwell
After finding the vehicle in which Chadwell was said to be a passenger, agents from the 16th Judicial District Drug Task Force attempted a traffic stop, but the driver of the car, identified as Carmin Torianna Freedom Edgin, 18, kept going, according to the affidavit of probable cause for arrest.
In a pursuit through city streets during a time where “traffic conditions were elevated due to (the) lunch hour,” court documents note Edgin ran stop signs, increased speeds, and drove in a reckless and evasive manner before crashing the vehicle into a birdbath that was located in the yard of a Porter Street residence.
Carmin Torianna Freedom Edgin
That vehicle, a 2000 Infiniti, had earlier been reported as stolen by a Newark man, according to Independence County Sheriff Shawn Stephens.
After both suspects were seen exiting the car, Edgin ran to another Porter Street residence which she entered by tearing a hole in a screen window. Occupants of the residence who were home at the time called 911, and Edgin was apprehended.
With the help of the department K9, officers from the Independence County Sheriff’s Department apprehended Chadwell in the back yard of that residence after a lengthy struggle in which the suspect “actively” resisted arrest, according to the affidavit.
After Chadwell was taken into custody, he was charged with being a certain person in possession of a firearm, possession of drug paraphernalia to ingest meth, possession of drug paraphernalia, fleeing on foot, and resisting arrest.
Edgin was charged with felony fleeing, misdemeanor fleeing on foot, and felony residential burglary. She has been placed on a $20,000 bond, and Chadwell’s bond was set at $50,000.
A second passenger in the car was briefly detained, but not charged.
This isn’t Chadwell’s first brush with the law. In July, authorities say Chadwell committed three drug-related felonies. Click here for that story.
And in 2018, Chadwell was charged with first-degree criminal mischief. Click here for that story.
All images via the Independence County Sheriff’s Department
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