Police located a stolen Audi vehicle and the suspect who took then abandoned it in an intersection, Wednesday on Bloomington’s north side, according to the Bloomington Police Department.
Police were called around 12:38 p.m. for a report of the operator of a white Audi driving erratically all over the road in the area of Indiana 46 and I-69. Before police could arrive the driver was seen parking the car on eastbound Indiana 46 and walking away from the vehicle.
The witness told police the man appeared to be agitated and on drugs, and was carrying a large knife.
The driver walked to the parking lot of Denny’s and was sitting next to a woman when police arrived. When police made contact with the suspect he pulled the large machete style knife on a police officer. The officer talked the man into dropping the knife far enough away that it was out of reach. The officer then secured the knife in a police vehicle, and continued talking with the suspect.
About the time the officer was dealing with the suspect, a woman reported to police her 2017 white Audi was missing from the Vanished Aesthetics and Salon in the 800 block of North College Avenue. The woman told police she parked it about 11:30 a.m. to run an errand at the business. She said she shut it off, but left the keys in it.
The 23-year-old suspect, who had a Bloomington address, was arrested and charged with auto theft, which is a level 6 felony. The suspect, who was intoxicated, was cleared by IU Health Bloomington before being taken to the Monroe County Jail.