HENDRICKS COUNTY, Ind. — Prosecutors are seeking a life sentence for a teenager charged in the death of an Indiana State Police trooper.
Police said Eddie Jones was driving a car that hit and killed Indiana State Police Trooper Aaron Smith in June.
Jones is currently charged with murder, resisting police and car theft. A motion entitled "notice of intent to seek life imprisonment without parole" was filed Friday in Hendricks County, online court records said.
Jones, 18, from Missouri, was allegedly driving a stolen 2016 Chevrolet Traverse that hit and killed Smith while he was trying to deploy a tire-deflating device on Ronald Reagan Parkway near Interstate 70 on June 28.
A passenger in the vehicle, 19-year-old DeMareon L. Curry, also from Missouri, was charged with auto theft and resisting law enforcement, a Level 5 felony, according to police.
A 15-year-old female, who was listed as a missing person from Missouri, was turned over to authorities from that state and is not being charged in connection with the incident.
According to court documents, police got a notification from a Flock camera system alerting them to the vehicle. Trooper Grover Scott spotted the SUV in a parking lot on Kentucky Avenue and gave the occupants of the vehicle commands to put their hands out the window. Scott said those in the vehicle complied for several minutes before the driver put the vehicle in reverse and backed into Scott's patrol car before fleeing the scene, striking another vehicle.
Jones allegedly told police Curry told him to flee from the police at McDonald's and that if he got onto I-70, police would terminate the pursuit. The girl allegedly told investigators she and Curry told Jones "do what you gotta do man, and so he decided to take off," the documents said.
Smith got out of his vehicle to deploy stop sticks and was hit by the suspect vehicle around 8:45 p.m.
Smith, 33, was transported to Eskenazi Hospital in critical condition. Indiana State Police Supt. Doug Carter confirmed late that evening that Smith died from his injuries.
Carter said Smith had been with ISP for about five years. He first joined the department in 2018 but left for a time before returning to the force.
"He was a shining star for the state police," Carter said.
Smith, who lived in Franklin, Indiana, is survived by his wife, Carter said.