Police: Handcuffed Wayne County man fled from police car after arrest for DWI

RICHMOND, Ind. — A Wayne County man's is accused of fleeing from a police car after an arrest for alleged drunken driving.

Scott A. Allen, 35, of Hagerstown, was charged Monday in Wayne Superior Court 2 with escape, a Level 5 felony carrying up to six years in prison, along with a misdemeanor count of driving while intoxicated.

According to Cambridge City police, on the evening of Nov. 7, a sport utility vehicle, allegedly driven by Allen, struck a Chevrolet Traverse, at the time parked in a driveway in the western Wayne County community of Dublin.

The SUV then traveled through a yard "before vaulting over a steep embankment and down into a wooded ravine," according to an affidavit.

Witnesses said the driver, later identified as Allen, fled from the damaged SUV on foot. He was found nearby underneath a parked school bus, the affidavit said.

More: Richmond man charged with murder, attempted robbery in 2022 homicide

Allen reportedly told officers he was "sure I did something stupid because I'm drunk," and maintained he could not account for how he traveled from Hagerstown to Dublin. The two Wayne County towns are about nine miles apart.

The Hagerstown man was examined by EMS personnel to confirm he had not been injured in the SUV crash.

A breath test measured his blood alcohol content at 0.233, according to the affidavit. In Indiana, motorists with a BAC of 0.08 or higher are considered intoxicated.

Allen was handcuffed and secured in a police car with a seat belt. However, officers and Wayne County sheriff's deputies reported he managed to flee from the car, running down Center Street in Dublin as "multiple officers pursued him."

The chase ended when the Hagerstown man fell on the pavement, sustaining an abrasion on his knee, the court document said. EMS personnel were called back to the scene to examine him again.

Allen was being driven in a police car to Reid Hospital in Richmond for a blood draw when he was reported to have "become unresponsive."

For a third time, EMS personnel were called, and after regaining consciousness, Allen was taken to the hospital by ambulance. He was later transferred to the Wayne County jail.

According to court records, Allen has no prior felony convictions in Indiana.

Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Hagerstown man charged with escaping from police car after DWI arrest