Chance A. Tressler (Madison County Jail).
An Indiana man carjacked a woman and ran her over with her SUV twice before crashing and breaking the leg of a second woman in another vehicle, getting arrested and telling police he was high on meth and Xanax and didn’t remember the events of that night, authorities said.
Chance A. Tressler, 28, faces charges of robbery, battery, auto theft and leaving the scene of an accident, online court records show.
The incident left the woman he’s accused of running over with swelling, bruises and bleeding, according to Indianapolis Fox affiliate WXIN.
The carjacking that started the series of events began on the evening of Oct. 9 in the 2900 block of North Scatterfield in Anderson, more than 40 miles northeast of Indianapolis, after a woman left her GMC Acadia unlocked outside a gas station.
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The suspect allegedly left a stolen Chrysler 200 idling in the gas station lot, got into the Acadia and started to drive away. The victim held onto the handle of the driver’s side door and was run over when Tressler put the car in reverse and drove forward over her again before driving away, WXIN reported, citing court documents.
At one point, he allegedly ran a red light, at which point he was hit by an oncoming car — a crash that sent the other driver to the hospital with a broken leg, the station reported.
Police tracked down the owner of the Chrysler that the suspect left at the gas station. That owner told police he “had a pretty good idea who stole it,” saying it was a man named “Chance” who worked for him and had stayed at his house overnight, WXIN reported.
After an overnight search, police found Tressler the following day. He allegedly told cops he was high on methamphetamine and Xanax and had stopped taking his medication for schizophrenia, the outlet reported.
He also allegedly told investigators he borrowed a car from his boss and got lost. He pulled into a gas station for directions and a drink because he had “cottonmouth” before driving off in another vehicle. He allegedly told investigators he thought he hit a curb pulling out of the lot and remembered getting T-boned afterward.
“Chance stated that he then had a panic attack and sat down somewhere and then he woke up in a bean field,” according to court documents cited by WXIN. “Chance agreed that he ran from the accident because he knew he was going to be in some trouble.”
He is being held at the Madison County Jail on a $50,000 bond, online jail records show.
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