A driver who fled from police and killed two Mishawaka teenagers received more than four decades in prison on Friday.
The pursuit and crash took place in December of 2020, but Jesse Lottie Jr. avoided arrest for more than a year after the fatal collision, delaying criminal proceedings until this year.
On Friday, St. Joseph County judge David Fransisco sentenced Lottie to 44 years in prison for running from police and leaving the scene of the crash.
Short pursuit, fatal crash
Mishawaka police responded to a reported break in on 12th street on Dec. 2 of 2020. Cops on the scene chased a suspect on foot before the person got into a Pontiac Grand Prix and barrelled west.
Police initiated a pursuit but say less than one minute later, the Pontiac hit another car at the intersection of Spring and West 13th street.
The crash killed 19-year-old Clayton McClish and 18-year-old Elizabeth Johnson-Neher, who were dating and driving back to McClish's house after he had just finished a shift driving for Uber Eats and Door Dash.
The driver of the Pontiac ran and was able to elude police for around 18 months, but other people in the vehicle during the pursuit eventually identified the driver as 25-year-old Jesse Lottie Jr. and he was found guilty by a jury earlier this year.
Lottie was convicted on four total counts related to the crash and taken together, his sentence is 48 years, with four suspended.
The brief pursuit, which happened in a primarily residential area in southern Mishawaka is also at the center of a pending lawsuit Johnson-Neher’s family filed against the city of Mishawaka.
The family claims police were reckless to initiate the pursuit, though the city says officers acted in accordance with department policy.
