Girlfriend, baby killed as man escaping police at 130 mph hits semi, Indiana cops say

A man’s girlfriend and baby were killed in a crash as he led police on a chase with speeds topping 130 mph, according to Indiana police.

The deadly sequence of events led to felony charges against 20-year-old Eric White, accused of speeding past Lake County Police officers onto Interstate 80 during the Jan. 7 chase in northern Indiana, according to court records.

Driving an Audi A5, White was first spotted around 11:30 a.m. “moving significantly faster than the same direction traffic,” police said. White is then accused of fleeing from police as multiple officers chased after him.

When he reached the interstate, White sped “recklessly weaving in and out the lanes of I-80 and cutting off other motor vehicles in what was a clear attempt to resist and flee from police officers,” court documents show.

A detective saw White traveling at 130 mph when he lost track of the Audi for 30 seconds, police said, before spotting a “large cloud of smoke and debris begin to fill the highway.”

White had crashed into the back of a semi, knocking the roof off of his Audi, an affidavit states. The Audi then spun across the highway before hitting a wall, WKRC reported.

As the car continued back across the highway, it was struck on its passenger side by the semi it had already rear-ended, the TV station reported.

Britni Griffin, who was in the passenger seat, was thrown 100 yards after the initial collision and her decapitated head was found in a separate location on the interstate, cops say. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Ky’Air Lucas, the 1-year-old baby of White and Griffin, was found in a car seat in the backseat “mangled and unresponsive,” according to an affidavit and the coroner’s office. He and Griffin both died of blunt force trauma, the coroner’s office said.

White, who was alert when officers got to him, attempted to resist arrest by “holding onto the steering wheel,” police said. When White was taken into custody, police said, an officer found a semi-automatic handgun with a live bullet in the chamber was in one of his front pockets.

White was transported to a hospital to be treated for injuries. He was later charged with “neglect of a dependent resulting in death, two counts of resisting law enforcement resulting in a death and misdemeanor carrying a handgun without a license,” according to the Northwest Indiana Times. If convicted, he faces 20 to 40 years in prison.

“Any loss of life in such horrifying circumstances is tragic, but the loss of a child is especially disturbing. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who lost their lives during this incident,” Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr. said, according to WKRC.

This story was originally published January 11, 2022 at 9:17 AM with the headline "Girlfriend, baby killed as man escaping police at 130 mph hits semi, Indiana cops say."