High speed crash on Clinton injures FWPD officer and others

CASE FILED THIS WEEK ADDS TO AN ATTEMPTED MURDER CHARGE

FORT WAYNE, Ind. ---Racing your car down Clinton Street at 3 a.m. is never a good idea.

Running a red light and plowing into a squad car makes that decision even worse.

But that’s what happened in March 2023 when Quayawn Eldridge, now 26, had just left a bar, according to his own story, and “did not want the vehicle he was racing to overtake him.”

Quayawn Eldridge

The case just filed adds to the 26-year-old’s legal woes with a Felony 5 operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing serious bodily injury and a Level 6 criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon i.e. a vehicle,

In July 2023, Quayawn Eldridge was charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery when the assault poses a substantial risk of death, criminal recklessness when a defendant shoots into a building and using a firearm in the commission of an offense

The July 4 shooting in the 2900 block of Bowser Avenue left a child in life threatening condition. It was only a couple of months after Eldridge landed in the hospital after the high speed crash on Clinton Street.

On March 25, 2023 around 3 a.m. Eldridge was driving a blue Chrysler passenger when he struck a Fort Wayne PD squad car driven by Fort Wayne officer Mason Wills, according to a probable cause affidavit written by Officer M. Porter.

Eldridge  was racing a red passenger car that blew through a red light at Creighton Avenue just before Wills in his squad car entered the intersection on a green light. Both passenger cars were going very fast, although no clocked speeds were included in court documents.

In his own words, Eldridge told the responding officer that he was involved in a race and wasn’t about to let the other vehicle overtake him.

But not only did Eldridge sustain injuries, Wills suffered cuts and pain to his head and knee pain, court documents said. 

His passenger Devon Freeman, went to the hospital with a broken femur (thigh bone) and shoulder pain, described in court documents as “significant injuries from the crash.”

Eldridge, who at the time had a learner’s permit, wound up in the hospital and was unable to do a sobriety test because he was “in pain and in a hospital bed.”

A blood alcohol test administered at 3:45 a.m. showed a result of 0.94. The legal limit is 0.8.  

Friday, after a probable cause affidavit was filed, Magistrate Samuel Keirns dismissed the case without prejudice citing no charging information filed.

But the  case was dismissed without prejudice meaning it could be refiled. Monday, the case was refiled, online court documents indicate.

Meanwhile, the attempted murder case. Is scheduled for a 4-day trial starting Jan. 27.  Attorney Robert Gevers has been retained to represent Eldridge, court documents said. Deputy prosecutor Jamie Groves will take the lead for the state.