Two Illinois
residents were arrested early this morning on multiple charges following a
traffic stop on I-94 near Portage, the Indiana State Police said.
According to
police, at 1:35 a.m. Steven Trunnell, 24, of Harvey, Ill., was stopped in
the eastbound lanes of I-94 at the 17.3 mile marker--one and a half miles
west of the Portage exit--for driving below the posted speed limit and
inability to maintain lane of travel. When asked to step out of the car,
Trunnell--who police said “seemed evasive”--instead fled on foot. The
trooper managed, however, to “gain control over him in the area of the south
ditch,” police said, and a second trooper assisted him in handcuffing
Trunnell.
“Once Trunnel was
detained, suspected narcotics (cocaine) were located on him,” police said.
Meanwhile, the
Trunnell’s front-seat passenger, Cleveland Jordan III, 19, of Dolton,
Ill.--who had been asleep during the traffic stop--was by this time awake
but refused the trooper’s instructions to “place his hands up,” police said.
On the contrary, Jordan “smiled and kept his hands below his chest,”
prompting the trooper to approach him and then observe in Jordan’s lap a
“handgun with an extended magazine,” police said.
The trooper gave
Jordan “loud verbal commands for Jordan to place his hands up and (Jordan)
ultimately complied and was removed from the car,” police said. Outside the
vehicle Jordan “began to resist,” although troopers succeeded in subduing
and handcuffing him, police said.
A search of the
vehicle yielded a second handgun under the front passenger’s seat with a
“shaved-off serial number” and a third firearm reported stolen through Clark
County, Ohio, police said.
Open containers of
alcohol were also discovered in the vehicle, as well as a scale and “small
plastic bags of suspected marijuana,” police said.
Trunnell and Jordan
were both transported to Porter County Jail.
Trunnell was
charged with felon carrying a handgun; possession of cocaine; obstruction of
justice; resisting law enforcement; operating while intoxicated; possession
of a handgun without a permit; possession of marijuana; and possession of
paraphernalia.
Jordan was charged
with possession of an altered firearm; possession of a handgun without a
permit; and resisting law enforcement.