Muncie woman charged with striking ex-boyfriend with car
MUNCIE, Ind. — A Muncie woman has been accused of intentionally striking her former boyfriend with her car.
Kristen M. Hale, 37, was charged last week in Delaware Circuit Court 1 with attempted aggravated battery, a Level 3 felony carrying up to 16 years in prison, and domestic battery with a deadly weapon, a Level 5 felony with a maximum six-year sentence.
Muncie police responded to a report of a pedestrian being struck by a vehicle on West White River Boulevard on Oct. 31.
A 38-year-old local man told officers that Hale had been harassing him since their relationship ended a few months earlier,
He said Hale on that day had driven up as he and his new girlfriend were walking a dog, and at first acted "as though she was going to hit (the new girlfriend) with her car."
The accuser said Hale then left her vehicle and sprayed him and the other woman with an unknown substance, then repeatedly hit him with a closed fist.
He said the Muncie woman then got back in her car and struck him with the vehicle, "causing him to land on the hood of Kristen's car."
The man — who an officer noted had "a large scratch on (his) shin" — said he then fell off the vehicle and Hale drove away.
Hale was arrested at that time and released from the Delaware County jail after posting bond.
Court records reflect no prior convictions for the Muncie woman.
In other crime news:
Chase ends in crash: A Muncie man is accused of leading police on a car chase — which ended with a crash — after he allegedly shoplifting merchandize from the local Target store.
City police were called to the store, at 3601 N. Barr St., on Friday morning after John Thomas Howell, 46, allegedly put a computer tablet into a backpack and left the building.
As an officer reached the store, he observed Howell, driving a SUV, leaving the property. A chase ensued, with Howell twice circling the parking lot of a nearby restaurant before pulling onto McGalliard Road.
The officer was directed by supervisors to end the pursuit, but as he turned off his vehicle's emergency lights, Howell reportedly turned into a driveway on Linda Layne and struck a house.
He then fled on foot but was apprehended in the 2600 block of North Granville Avenue.
Howell — preliminarily charged with theft, leaving the scene of a crash and two counts of resisting law enforcement — continued to be held in the Delaware County jail on Monday under a $15,000 bond.
According to state Department of Correction records, the Muncie man has been convicted of crimes including dealing in meth and theft.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Muncie woman charged with striking ex-boyfriend with car
