MITCHELL – An Indianapolis man was arrested early Saturday morning after Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department deputies were called to Spring Mill Inn after a woman had been run over with a pickup truck.
Deputies were told the woman was lying on the ground and a male was attempting to move her.
When deputies arrived they found the woman on the ground with a Mitchell Police Officer who arrived on the scene and 50-year-old Neal Samples.
Samples told police the woman was drunk and had been running in the street and he didn’t know what happened.
A witness recanted a different view to the incident , stating Samples had run the injured woman over with the truck.
The injured woman told police she and Samples had been arguing. Samples had left the Inn and had been gone for about 2.5 hours. The woman said she saw he was parked on the top level of the parking garage and went to speak to him.
As she was walking to the truck Samples put the truck in reverse and ran over her arm before leaving the parking lot.
Another witness said he was pulling into the parking lot when he saw the pickup pull out of the parking lot and when doing so Samples nearly struck the witnesses’ vehicle, causing the witness to swerve to avoid a collision. The witness then noticed the woman lying on the ground. That is when the witness checked to see if the woman was okay and called 911.
The witness said Samples then returned to the parking lot, parked the truck and attempted to pick the woman up. The witness her Samples tell her “you’re fine, stop acting like a fool”.
Samples told police he had drunk about six beers that day. He denied submitting to a chemical test and was transported to IU Health Bedford Hospital for a blood draw.
Samples told police the woman had been in the truck and fell out. He then changed his statement and said he had not been in the truck at all. Samples was arrested on charges of domestic battery with a deadly weapon, battery resulting in serious injury, criminal recklessness, OWI, OWI endangerment, public intoxication and disorderly conduct.
