Man facing drug, drunken driving charges after chase with police in NW Indiana

A Gary man is facing multiple charges after leading police on a high-speed chase early Friday in northwest Indiana.

About 12:50 a.m., an officer saw a 2104 Nissan Maxima driving east at a high rate of speed on State Road 130 near Wheeler, according to the Porter County Sheriff’s Office. After confirming that the vehicle was traveling at 76 mph in a 35 mph zone, the officer turned his patrol car around and tried to stop the Maxima.

The Maxima’s driver, 47-year-old Maxie Rallings Jr., failed to stop and instead drove faster, leading the officer into Valparaiso, the sheriff’s office said.

Valparaiso police deployed stop sticks near the intersection of Campbell Street and Vale Park when Rallings continued driving north in the southbound lanes on Campbell, the sheriff’s office said.

The Maxima then swerved toward a sheriff’s officer’s patrol car in the 400 block of Franklin Street, the sheriff’s office said. The officer was able initially able to avoid a collision, but the Maxima continued to sideswipe the officer’s car.

Rallings then lost control of his car, crashing into a large tree stump in a yard on Franklin, the sheriff’s office said. The officer wasn’t injured.

Rallings was charged with a felony count of fleeing law enforcement and misdemeanor counts of operating while intoxicated, reckless driving and possession of marijuana, the sheriff’s office said. He is being held at the Porter County Jail.