One man is dead after being shot at by police in a chase involving numerous law enforcement agencies that ended in downtown South Bend on Wednesday evening.
Many details about the incident remain uncertain but officials say Michigan State Police attempted to arrest the man in Niles, when he led officers on a chase down into South Bend. At the end of the chase, police shot at the man. It is unclear if they hit him, or if the man fired at police prior to being fired on.
Officials on Thursday identified the man as South Bend native Joshua Ringle, 32.
Ringle drove past the roundabout just south of Memorial Hospital and crashed into a South Bend police squad car before running away on foot through the McDonalds parking lot towards the river. During that foot pursuit, police shot at Ringle and he was later found dead at the bottom of an embankment near the St. Joseph River.
Indiana State Police is taking charge of the investigation involving multiple police agencies from both Michigan and Indiana. ISP Sgt. Ted Bohner told WVPE that at least one Michigan state trooper fired at the suspect in the incident, though it’s possible other MSP officers did as well. Bohner added that investigators believe no South Bend officers fired their weapons, though multiple units were on the scene.
Bohner did not answer whether Ringle fired at officers as he ran. Scanner traffic indicated Ringle shot at police, though it’s unclear as to the specifics. On a video provided to WVPE which depicts part of the pursuit, around seven gunshots can be heard, though the video does not show who was shooting.
Charlie Ortega, 25, was driving by the area on Wednesday when the Kia crashed into police and said he had never seen anything like it. Ortega said he was leaving a performance at the nearby South Bend Civic Theater and driving near the roundabout where Main Street splits off from Michigan.
He said one South Bend police car was blocking the southbound exit onto Main Street so the Kia drove straight onto Michigan Street where another South Bend officer had stationed their car and had set up stop sticks in the road.
Once the Kia crashed, Ortega said the driver exited the car within two seconds.
“It was a very dangerous situation. We didn’t know what was going on because all we saw at first was two cop cars,” Ortega said. “But after we saw the guy running with like 12 cops behind him, that’s when I said ‘Oh this is very serious right now.’”
The pursuit of the red Kia began in Niles shortly before 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday. According to information communicated to officers on the scanner, Ringle allegedly assaulted officers during an initial traffic stop, though why he was pulled over in the first place is unknown.
The Kia drove down SR 933 heading into South Bend and scanner traffic during the chase indicates Michigan State Police fired at the car around the area of 933 and Dorr Road.
Bohner said investigators are still figuring out whether shots were fired during the chase and if so, who fired at whom.
MSP’s policy manual on vehicular pursuits states officers should only start a pursuit when they believe the suspect has committed a felony offense.
A spokesman for MSP did not immediately agree to an interview request from WVPE though the department put out a short statement saying officers from the agency’s Niles post “were involved in a shooting.”
Bohner said no officers were seriously injured in the incident.
Reports also indicate there was a woman in the Kia during the chase, though she was not arrested.
An autopsy for Ringle is set for Friday.
