I was returning home April 5 from a monthly luncheon with several of my former high school classmates. It just so happened that Stuart, my therapy dog, rode with me this time. He enjoyed a nap while I ate.
We were heading home from Greenwood and traveling north on Madison Avenue when I noticed a city bus directly ahead of us. My thought was that maybe I should move to the inside lane to avoid getting stuck behind the bus. I checked my rearview mirrors and noticed flashing red and blue lights but wasn’t concerned because they were far behind us.
I changed to the inside lane and within three or four seconds was passed on my left side by a small red car that was traveling at a high rate of speed. What really got my attention was that I was in the inside lane. The red car seemed to be traveling at more than 100 mph and in the southbound lanes.
I was shocked. Within a couple of seconds two Greenwood police cars flew past in pursuit.
We were near the intersection of Madison and Stop 11 Road. I was amazed that there wasn’t a collision there. There was a third marked Greenwood police car about five seconds behind the ones giving chase. I looked in my mirror and noticed a large black SUV pulling up behind me. All of a sudden that SUV turned into a police car and turned on about three dozen red and blue flashing lights. I quickly moved over and the SUV was gone.
We found out later that day that the driver of the red car was involved in stealing something at a store at Greenwood Park Mall and accused of pulling a knife on someone. The chase ended in a collision on Michigan Street on the Eastside, but no one was seriously hurt.
I had never seen a high-speed chase in person. It was scary.
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A few mornings later when I checked my Facebook page I noticed a post by a good friend of mine. Angie Wright-Markland was asking for prayers for her oldest daughter. She explained that Briana and a friend had been dining at Texas Roadhouse when a car crashed into the restaurant. The booth that she was sitting in was where the crash occurred. She was pinned against the wall, and her ankles were trapped under part of the broken table. She was at the hospital awaiting X-ray results.
I remembered being at the Cracker Barrel on Southport Road several years ago when a car came crashing through. We were not sitting near the crash area but it was unsettling. No one was in that part of the restaurant.
I called Angie to get an update on Briana. Nothing was broken, but she was going to be sore. Briana told me via Facebook that she was OK
Shortly after that I saw a television news report of the incident.
I’m hoping for a much calmer and safer week ... and so is Stuart.
Shonk is a 1960 graduate of Southport High School, a ’63 grad of Indiana Central College (now the University of Indianapolis) and a retired bus driver from Beech Grove Schools.