A Fort Wayne Police officer died Monday night after a medical event suffered at the end of a chase.
An FWPD spokesman says it started near Bishop Luers High School at 11:15pm, when officers spotted a stolen car near the intersection of Kent and Southcrest Roads and tried to get the driver to pull over.
Instead, the suspect drove to an apartment complex off Fairfield Avenue and south of Paulding Road, drove down a bank, onto the Rivergreenway near the St. Marys River, then crashed in a wooded area. 50-year-old officer David Tinsley, along with a partner and a K-9 officer, searched the area on foot and arrested the suspect, 49-year-old Patrick Faiers of Fort Wayne.
After Faiers was arrested, Tinsley collapsed while walking back to his car. He was pronounced dead a short time later.
The Fort Wayne Police Department is asking for the lowering of all flags to half-mast in Tinsley’s honor.
Faiers is held on a $90,000 bond, facing charges of burglary, habitual traffic violator for life, resisting law enforcement in a vehicle, auto theft, criminal mischief and criminal trespass.
