Police Pursuit Ends With Car Flying Off Railroad Tracks and Destroying a Portage Resident’s House
It was a quiet Sunday night in Portage, Indiana. A family was home. Then a car flying at over 130 mph went airborne over railroad tracks and slammed directly into their house on Mercedes Avenue.
This wasn’t a movie scene. It happened on May 10, 2026.
What Happened That Night
Around 10:00 p.m., Indiana State Trooper Brady Schrock tried to pull over a white Chevrolet Blazer doing 90 mph westbound on I-94, near the Burns Harbor/Porter exit.
The driver didn’t stop. He floored it.
The pursuit crossed State Road 249, U.S. 20, and Samuelson Road in Porter County. The Blazer hit a set of railroad tracks at full speed, launched into the air, and came down into a residence at 6761 Mercedes Avenue in Portage.
The driver, Jven Ray Lewis, 20, of Michigan City, Indiana, was taken into custody at the scene.
What Was Found in That Car
Officers recovered a loaded Glock handgun and a loaded drum magazine from Lewis’s waistband. Not from the car. From his body.
A drum magazine holds significantly more rounds than a regular magazine, often 50 to 100. Carrying one signals preparation, not accident.
A female passenger was detained and taken to the hospital for pain complaints. The homeowner was not at the point of impact but went to the hospital as a precaution. Lewis was medically cleared and booked into Porter County Jail.
The Charges And the One That’s Missing
Lewis faces three preliminary charges:
- Resisting law enforcement (Level 5 felony, up to 6 years)
- Dealing a controlled substance (Level 6 felony, up to 2.5 years)
- Reckless driving (Class A misdemeanor)
Here’s what most outlets skipped: he was not charged for the loaded gun.
Indiana is a permitless carry state. Without specific aggravating factors tied to the weapon, gun charges may not apply at the arrest stage. But if prosecutors pursue a federal drug-and-firearms route, that can change.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Lewis also faced a marijuana dealing charge, confirmed by multiple outlets.
The gun charge question is still open. And it’s fair for the public to ask why.
Do you think carrying a loaded Glock with a drum magazine during a drug-related chase should carry its own charge? Drop your take in the comments below.
Why This Matters
High-speed police pursuits are not rare. They are a national pattern.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Fatal Police Pursuits investigation, at least 3,336 people were killed in police vehicle pursuits across the U.S. between 2017 and 2022.
Nearly two deaths every single day. And 82% of those started from a traffic stop or a nonviolent offense.
If you follow stories like this one, where families get caught in situations they never asked for, there’s a WhatsApp community covering exactly these cases: Join the channel here.
The U.S. Department of Justice has called vehicular pursuits “the most dangerous of all ordinary police activities.” Indiana has no statewide ban on pursuits. The trooper made a judgment call. That call ended with a car inside someone’s home.
The Family Whose Home Was Hit
The homeowner’s house took a direct hit from a vehicle doing over 130 mph. Structural damage was confirmed. “As a precaution,” police said about the hospital visit. But that phrase doesn’t cover what a family actually goes through.
It means insurance calls, assessors walking through broken walls, and sleeping somewhere else while repairs happen, if they can happen at all.
This kind of situation is not new. A drunk driver in Belton crashed straight through a woman’s house and pinned her inside.
In Washington, a drunk driver’s crash left a dying Navy veteran fighting for both his home and his dignity.
In Sun Prairie, a truck plowing into three senior living homes exposed a security gap nobody was talking about.
These aren’t freak accidents. They’re a pattern.
If you want honest, practical guidance on what homeowners actually face after vehicle crashes into their property, visit Build Like New. Because a quick patch is not always a real fix.
What Happens Next
Lewis’s charges are preliminary and can be upgraded. The gun angle is not closed. Federal prosecutors can step in when a drug offense involves a firearm.
Watch for updates from Porter County courts in the coming weeks.
Final Thoughts
The crash scene gets cleaned up. The press release goes out. But the family still has a damaged home, and the charges are still preliminary.
If this story made you think, follow us on X (Twitter) and join the conversation in our Facebook community for coverage that goes deeper than the headlines.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only, based on Indiana State Police press releases and verified news reports as of May 12-13, 2026. All charges against Jven Ray Lewis are preliminary. He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
