Prosecutors have filed 11 charges against 34-year-old Dustin Pate, the man who resisted arrest Monday near State Road 23 and Gumwood, assaulting officers, taking one’s gun, and punching a K9. Court records shed light on Pate’s desperation to avoid arrest.
In addition to the fight with officers, Pate had tried to carjack a woman but couldn’t because she’d locked her doors.
St. Joseph County prosecutors say that at around 5 a.m., Pate and a female were driving down State Road 23 in Granger when they randomly pulled into a home’s driveway. The woman who lives there called police and reported a suspicious vehicle after Pate had parked his Jeep and walked to the front door. He then walked around to the back and broke the door in.
She yelled multiple times that she had a gun and would shoot. He then left and drove away as police arrived and ordered him to stop.
Court records say Pate was wanted on a theft warrant for stealing items from the south Mishawaka Meijer store in October, with multiple prior theft convictions. That case also triggered a warrant to revoke his probation, threatening to send him to prison for four years, from a 2023 conviction for trafficking drugs to a prisoner.
Indiana Department of Correction records show he’d also served seven years in prison for a 2017 burglary and was released in 2024.
