Goshen woman accused of leading police on chase, possessing drugs
At 4:08 p.m. Tuesday, a trooper saw a gold Ford vehicle commit a moving violation while traveling south on S.R. 933 near Pendle Road.
The trooper initiated a traffic stop and the Ford pulled into a nearby business and stopped.
The woman driving gave the trooper a Texas driver’s license, which made the trooper suspicious that the license was fake, according to reports. The trooper also reported smelling marijuana as he spoke with the woman.
After determining the license was fake in his vehicle, the trooper approached the woman about it. She complied when asked to turn off her vehicle but when the conversation switched to the smell of marijuana, the driver tried to turn the vehicle back on and leave, according to police.
The trooper tried to stop the woman as she put the vehicle in drive but she drove away with the trooper’s arm still in the window, according to reports.
The woman drove south on S.R. 933 into South Bend and traveled down numerous streets until she ended up on Johnson Street.
The driver allegedly disregarded a stop light at Johnson and Lincoln Way West and was struck by a vehicle that had the right-of-way, reports said.
The driver and a passenger in that vehicle complained of minor injuries.
The woman left the crash scene and continued on before stopping at the end of an alley near Obrien Street and Lincoln Way West, according to police.
The woman was safely taken into custody and verbally gave police a second identity that did not match the one on the fake driver’s license, reports said.
Troopers searched the Ford and found approximately 2¼ pounds of suspected marijuana, marijuana wax, several pills that tested positive for methamphetamine, and a digital scale, police reported.
After being cleared at the hospital, the driver was taken to the St. Joseph County Jail where investigators discovered she had verbally given police and medical staff a false identity, reports said.
She was positively identified as 37-year-old Denay Tuggle and was found to have several active warrants out of Elkhart County.
Tuggle was arrested on the active warrants and on the following charges:
- Resisting law enforcement
- Habitual traffic violator
- Dealing marijuana
- Possession of marijuana
- Possession of methamphetamine
- Possession of paraphernalia
- False identity statement
- Identity deception
- Forgery
- Counterfeit driver’s license
- Leaving the scene of a crash