Illinois man leads Johnson County police on chase in U-Haul truck, crashes into cars, fences

FRANKLIN, Ind. (WISH) — An Illinois man was arrested in December after robbing an Indianapolis Target and leading Johnson County officials on a miles-long, “Grand Theft Auto”-like chase through Franklin in a U-Haul box truck.

A probable cause affidavit obtained by News 8 says that on Dec. 30, Franklin Police Department officers were dispatched to the area of Interstate 65 and East King Street in Franklin on a “checking area call.”

Officers learned from Greenwood police that they reportedly saw a U-Haul box truck with an Arizona license plate that was involved in an armed robbery at the Target on Southport Road and Emerson Avenue in Indianapolis.

Franklin police arrived in the area just before 3 p.m., and found a U-Haul box truck with the same license plate parked at the pump at a gas station. The man driving the U-Haul was later identified as 33-year-old Troy Bradford Jr. of Elgin, Illinois.

Elgin is 35 miles northwest of Chicago.

Court documents say officers parked on a nearby access road observed Bradford in the U-Haul. Bradford drove the box truck through a Taco Bell drive-thru, and after leaving the restaurant, officers attempted to pull Bradford over.

At this point, police learned that Bradford was possibly armed, and there was a second passenger in the box truck. Officers still tried to pull Bradford over just north of the gas station on Paris Drive.

Court documents say that an officer drew his weapon, and “began to give Bradford commands to shut off the vehicle, and place the keys outside.”

After a second attempt at asking Bradford to exit the box truck, he fled from police, initiating a pursuit.

Listed below is the route that Bradford led police on.

• Bradford fled north on Paris Drive, turning the wrong way in a roundabout before heading south on Paris Drive.
• He then turned east onto King Street and got onto I-65 southbound.
• At the first emergency turnaround, he illegally cut across and continued north on I-65 northbound.
• At the Franklin exit, he tried to leave the highway but veered back onto it.
• When he hit the next emergency turnaround, he made a U-turn and cut over to I-65 southbound again. Speeds on the highway reached up to 90 mph, police say.
• Bradford exited I-65 at the southbound exit, then turned west onto King Street.
• He drove toward County Road 500 East, where he would pull another U-turn, going east on King Street.
• He continued on King Street until he hit South Home Avenue. Court documents say Bradford blew through every stop sign during this leg of the pursuit and speeds reached up to 80 mph in residential areas.
• He turned south onto Home Avenue until Champ Ulysses Drive, then turned west before hitting Main Street.
• Bradford continued north on Main Street. Eventually, he cut across the front lawn of the Johnson County courthouse until he hit West Court Street.
• From Court Street, he turned west onto Jefferson Street.
• He continued on Jefferson Street until he turned north on Walnut Street.
• He went through the roundabout at Walnut Street and Oliver Avenue the wrong way, then went west on Clark Street.
• Court documents say at this point, Bradford seemed to be boxed in. But Bradford continued through Clark Street and sped through the playground of Northwood Elementary School. He crashed through a fence to escape officers.

Police say that they lost sight of Bradford after he crashed through the fence, but they continued onto U.S. 31. They also say that school was not in session, so there were no kids on the playground when Bradford drove through.

An Indiana state trooper assisting in the pursuit informed the other officers that he successfully deployed stop sticks in front of the U-Haul as it passed a gas station on the highway, severely damaging and shredding the tires.

Despite this, Bradford kept driving.

• Bradford continued down U.S. 31 south, driving the box truck on the rims. When he came to County Road East 800 South, he did a U-turn through the grass, hitting an SUV going north on the highway.
• He drove north on U.S. 31 until he hit approximately three vehicles at the intersection of U.S. 31 and West Jefferson Street.
• After hitting the cars at the intersection, he continued the pursuit on foot. Court documents say Bradford tried to enter one of the vehicles he struck, but couldn’t get in because the doors were locked.
• When he couldn’t enter the one vehicle, he ran on foot across Jefferson Street to the CVS Pharmacy on the corner.
• Bradford ran to the pharmacy drive-thru and attempted to steal another car, but couldn’t enter because of locked doors.
• Bradford also tried to jump through the drive-thru window, but couldn’t enter because it was locked.

A state trooper attempted to tase Bradford but was unsuccessful. The pursuit finally ended when several officers “took (Bradford) to the ground” and handcuffed him.

When officers asked Bradford why he fled, court documents say Bradford couldn’t provide an answer at first, until he “admitted that he was scared and that he had just been released on a previous sentence out of Illinois.”

When officers searched Bradford’s person, they found a broken glass pipe that Bradford told officers “he used to smoke crack,” an ice pick, a drill bit, a vape, and $178.55.

Court documents say Bradford also resisted officers when they tried to place him in a police car. Officers eventually resorted to having Bradford sit on the ground by the vehicle with “several officers” watching him.

Investigators were later able to search the U-Haul. Inside, they found the stolen items from Target and the firearm that “was later determined to be an airsoft gun.”

Bradford was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment for an injury he sustained to his hand.

He was taken to the Johnson County jail on a $100,000 cash bond.

He was facing charges of resisting law enforcement, criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, leaving the scene of an accident, and attempted auto theft.

Online court records show that Bradford is also facing charges out of Marion County for the armed robbery at Target.

An initial hearing in Johnson County was set for Monday morning. A hearing in Marion County has not been set yet.