Elkhart woman arrested for hitting multiple people with her vehicle

ELKHART, Ind. -- The Elkhart Police Department says 21-year-old Diamond Dancler has been arrested and charged with felony Intimidation and misdemeanor Criminal Recklessness stemming from an incident where she allegedly hit multiple other vehicles and two people with her Chevy Malibu earlier this month.

Court documents show that around 8:52 on March 25, Elkhart officers were called out Wolf Avenue, just west of Oakland Avenue in reference to a black female in red passenger car attempting to hit other vehicles.

When officers arrived, they saw a red Chevy Malibu and made contact with driver who was later identified as Dancler.

Witnesses told police that Dancler showed up to a house in the 800 block of Hubbard Avenue, where she believed her on-again, off-again boyfriend was at. After learning he was not there, a verbal altercation began between Dancler and a family member of the boyfriend.

One of the witnesses told police that Dancler had handgun in her on her but did not point it at anyone. Other witnesses claim that, as she was leaving, Dancler yelled out she was going to shoot everyone with a gun.

Three family members of the boyfriend, in two different vehicles, then went to a house in the 1800 block of Oakland Avenue where she believed Dancler to be.

The three had a verbal altercation in the driveway of the home and, at some point during the argument Dancler got into the Chevy Malibu and started to back out of the driveway.

According to witnesses, she then put the car back in drive and drove directly into one of the cars that had two people inside.

At one point, one of the passengers got out and was standing in front of the damaged car when they say Dancler hit them with the car. Dancler then rammed into the second vehicle with a single person inside.  That person got out of their damaged vehicle and was then allegedly struck by Dancler's car.

Police say both of the victims were able to get back into the vehicles and leave the driveway and that Dancler was trying to leave as police were arriving.

Court documents show that Dancler told authorities she went over to Hubbard Avenue to speak with her boyfriend but found out he was not there. She then drove back to her grandmother's house on Oakland Avenue and originally went inside, but then stepped back outside and saw a large group of people and several vehicles in the driveway.

"She recognized them as family of [the boyfriend] and believed they wanted to fight her," court documents state. "She was in fear for her life so she got into her red Chevy Malibu and was going to leave. [Dancler] stated that the subjects had 'bricks and sticks' and that as she was attempting to drive away, she did hit several vehicles in the driveway."

When interviewers asked why she didn't just leave, Dancler said that several people had jumped onto her vehicle, and she was afraid that if she continued driving, she would injure them.

Dancler was taken to the Elkhart County Jail and her car was impounded due to false/fictitious plates.