INDIANA – Tuesday morning, a suspect stole a school bus from the Cincinnati, Ohio area and led police from numerous Indiana police departments on a chase that lasted nearly an hour before the bus became disabled and the suspect was arrested.
At approximately 10:15 a.m. this morning, the Indiana State Police-Versailles Post was contacted by Ohio authorities who relayed information that a yellow 2021 school bus had been stolen from the Cincinnati area and was currently being tracked while it traveled westbound on I-74 near Batesville in Ripley County, Indiana. A Batesville Police Officer and two Indiana State Troopers located the vehicle and followed it as it entered Decatur County, Indiana.
The troopers attempted to initiate a traffic stop on the vehicle. The suspect and lone occupant of the vehicle, Chad Avery Murdock, 32, of Cincinnati, Ohio, did not stop and fled from the officers in the vehicle. The vehicle eventually went off-road into numerous fields and yards. The bus drove on numerous county roads as well as US 421 and SR 9 during the pursuit. Numerous officers from multiple departments joined the pursuit as the bus entered Shelby County.
Officers were eventually able to deploy a tire deflation device successfully which caused the tires on the bus to deflate. At approximately 11:15 a.m., officers boxed the bus in as it drove through another field, causing Murdock to stop the bus near County Road 25 East, just south of Shelbyville in Shelby County, Indiana. Murdock was then taken into custody without further incident.
Multiple police vehicles were damaged due to collisions with the bus during the pursuit. Multiple fields and yards also sustained damages due to Murdock’s actions.
Neither Murdock nor any of the police officers involved were injured during the incident.
Murdock was transported to the Decatur County Jail where he was incarcerated on preliminary charges of resisting law enforcement, criminal recklessness with a vehicle, possession of stolen property, and criminal mischief. Additional charges are possible.
