A Hammond man got a 4-year split term Friday after admitting he opened fire at a Lake County Sheriff’s deputy during a March 2023 dual car chase.
Miguel Macias, 21, pleaded guilty in December to attempted battery by means of a deadly weapon, a Level 5 felony, and resisting law enforcement, a Level 6 felony.
Judge Natalie Bokota sentenced him to six months in prison and 3.5 years on probation. He would have the option after a few months to petition to be transferred early to probation, Bokota told him.
“You could have killed a police officer,” she said during the hearing.
Deputy Prosecutor Jacob Brandewie told Bokota he left it up to her discretion what sentence he would get. He said the victim, Officer Timothy Shultz, declined to give a victim impact statement.
Defense lawyer Tim Bianco said Macias was trying to “draw attention away” from the other car.
Macias apologized in court for the lives he “put in danger.”
According to an affidavit, Shultz responded just before 1 a.m. March 6, 2023, after hearing a report of an active police chase of a stolen 2011 blue Hyundai Sonata headed from Illinois, records show. He and another Lake County Sheriff’s deputy joined the chase near Highland Street and Hohman Avenue.
Officers were also pursuing a second vehicle following the Hyundai – a white 1999 Toyota Camry that Macias drove, court records show. It was his mom’s car, Bianco said in court.
During the chase in Hammond, Macias fired “multiple shots” at Shultz’s police car, hitting the vehicle once near the “rear driver’s side door,” the plea agreement states.
In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dismissed all other charges in the attempted murder case.
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