Man dies after Muncie police chase, shooting

MUNCIE, Ind. — Authorities aren’t saying yet whether a man who died after crashing while he fled from Muncie police officers was wounded by gunfire from the officers.

The Marion County coroner’s office says 30-year-old Jeffrey Eldridge died at an Indianapolis hospital on Sunday, two days after his car slammed into a semitrailer. Muncie police say officers chased him after he tried to withdraw money using a bank card stolen in purse-snatchings at Walmart and Target stores.

The Star Press reports (http://bit.ly/pXfOaJ ) that an officer who was stuck by Eldridge’s car was released Saturday from a Muncie hospital.

Delaware County Prosecutor Jeffrey Arnold says the chase remained under investigation and the coroner’s office didn’t immediately release a cause of death for Eldridge, who had lived in Muncie and Hartford City in recent years.