Cops find alleged crack pipe, open beer after Crown Point man flees, crashes car, then fights officers: records
Court records show cops found an alleged crack pipe and an open beer inside a red Mazda CX-5 on Tuesday after a Crown Point man led them on a high-speed chase through south Lake County. He eventually crashed, then briefly fought officers.
The man later apologized, admitting he had the open beer and “freaked out.” A woman with him said he was trying to buy the Mazda SUV, which belonged to a friend, but refused to let her out during the chase.
“I’m not stopping, shut up,” the woman reported he said.
Dennis Keane, Jr., 44, was charged Thursday with criminal confinement, a Level 5 felony, four counts of resisting law enforcement, all Level 6 felonies, and one misdemeanor.
He has not been apprehended and is ordered held on a $50,000 or $5,000 cash surety bond.
A Schererville police officer reported he tried to pull the red Mazda with Wisconsin plates over at 3:08 p.m. April 9 when Keane didn’t use a turn signal on Wicker Avenue (U.S. 41) southbound near Moraine Trace, which is less than a mile south of U.S. 30.
Keane pulled into a Luke gas station, 2121 Wicker Ave. The cop said he saw the driver was white, and the man had turned around to see his emergency lights were on. The driver got back on U.S. 41 and the cop reported he momentarily broke off the pursuit due to heavy traffic.
Keane was stopped in traffic, before the chase resumed. He turned west on U.S. 30. He momentarily hit the “passenger side” of a semi and kept going, weaving around other cars as he headed for the Illinois state line, charges state.
At one point, he drove over a “concrete” median on U.S. 30 and cut into a Chipotle parking lot, speeding through as people walked to and from their cars. He went south on Calumet Avenue, then turned east onto W. 77th Avenue, blowing several stop signs. He went south on U.S. 41 again.
Cops had stop sticks out on U.S. 41 near 133rd Avenue in Cedar Lake.
He swerved off-road to avoid it, coming one or two feet away from a standing cop, then turned west on 133rd, heading toward a rural stretch of Calumet Avenue. He turned south on Calumet Avenue, turning west on 145th Avenue, then north on State Line Road.
Cops noted he was traveling at more than 100 miles per hour.
Near State Line Road and 109th Avenue, they pulled out stop sticks again. He swerved, but lost control and crashed into a red Kia Sportage and a mailbox. The female driver said she had neck pain and couldn’t move side-to-side. She later went to the hospital.
Keane got out and ran.
Keane appeared to get into a “fighting stance.” Officers unleashed a K-9 police dog, who ended up biting one officer in the left arm as they were trying to physically overpower and arrest him. Keane tried to run again, but was arrested.
That time, the dog bit Keane in the leg. He was taken to a hospital.
The woman in Keane’s passenger seat said she was sleeping and woke up to him fleeing from the cops. She closed her eyes until the crash, she told investigators. She met Keane a month earlier and wasn’t his girlfriend.
Police found the alleged crack pipe under the driver’s seat. They found a second pipe with white residue in the “trunk.” The pipes later tested positive for cocaine, court records state. Baggies didn’t have enough powder to test.
Keane later told cops the chase was “dumb” and apologized.
The officer, who was bitten, later said he had puncture wounds and “permanent scarring” and took five days off work.
