Man who fled police arrested after K9 locates him in nearby garage

KOSCIUSKO COUNTY, Ind. -- A man who fled a traffic stop and ran from troopers was located in a nearby garage by a K-9, according to Indiana State Police.

Around 8 p.m. Wednesday, a trooper was behind a red Pontiac and noticed the driver was showing signs of impairment. The driver crossed the center line multiple times on Old SR 15, reports said.

When the trooper attempted to conduct a traffic stop on the vehicle, the driver fled north on Old State Road at a high rate of speed, according to police.

At the intersection of Main and Section streets in Milford, the Pontiac crashed into a parked Ford Explorer, reports said.

The driver then got out of his car and ran from the scene, police said.

A K-9 unit from Indiana State Police and the Warsaw Police Department responded to the scene to assist in the search for the suspect, police said.

A K-9 with the Warsaw Police located the suspect in a garage in the 200 block of South Higbee Street, reports said.

Police said the suspect broke into the garage where he was hiding and was wearing clothes he took from the garage, according to reports.

The driver, later identified as 36-year-old James Barr of Columbia City, was taken to the hospital to be medically cleared after being bitten by the police K-9, police said.

Barr is also accused of spitting in the face of the officer who transported him to the hospital, reports said.

Troopers located approximately 9 grams of suspected methamphetamine, 111 grams of suspected synthetic marijuana, marijuana, and drug paraphernalia in the Pontiac, police said.

Barr had two active warrants from Kosciusko County and an active warrant out of Dekalb County.

He faces preliminary charges of possession of methamphetamine, residential entry, resisting law enforcement, battery, possession of a controlled substance, possession of paraphernalia, possession of marijuana, operating with a controlled substance in the body, and theft.