Police charged an Indianapolis man Monday for his alleged role in the death of John Pollard Jr., who was killed after an SUV ran a red light and drove through oncoming traffic to hit the 47-year-old as he walked on the sidewalk with his son, records state.
Medics who arrived near IU Health Methodist Hospital, close to where Pollard’s body lay on the curb of W. 16th Street, pronounced him dead at 4:19 p.m.
Roughly 48 hours after their investigation began, detectives with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department arrested 29-year-old Terell Williamson as the suspected driver of the SUV, a rental vehicle police say Williamson used from an ex-girlfriend he allegedly later threatened to kill. Williamson is also accused of taking a pizza delivery car the next day at gunpoint.
Sandwiched between Pollard’s death and the alleged theft of a delivery driver’s company vehicle, police say Williamson also stole a Dodge Charger and assaulted his mother for “turning him in,” then took her vehicle, court documents state.
What happened before John Pollard Jr. was killed
An affidavit for Williamson’s arrest said the fatal encounter with Pollard began with a verbal altercation outside a Walgreens on Meridian Street.
On Saturday, Pollard’s 15-year-old son told detectives he, his father, and another person were walking outside of Walgreens when they saw a man wearing a blue jacket and standing on a green electrical box, holding a gun in his hand.
The man confronted them, asking “which hood they were from,” which prompted a verbal altercation that turned physical, records state. The 15-year-old told detectives he removed the pistol from the man’s pocket during the altercation and the group separated.
Minutes later, and two blocks from that physical encounter, Pollard was struck by a silver SUV at W. 16th Street and N. Capitol Avenue as he walked on the sidewalk, nearest to the curb.
Witnesses told police the SUV ignored a red light and drove into on-coming traffic before returning to the westbound lane, where it veered onto the sidewalk and struck Pollard, then continued traveling westbound, running through several more traffic lights.
Pollard’s son told detectives he didn’t hear the SUV as it barreled down the sidewalk before striking his father.
As police investigated the crash they received a phone call from a woman who told them she had recently been contacted by her ex-boyfriend who said “he had just killed someone” and that “his life was on the line,” records state.
The woman told detectives she had rented a silver Chevy Equinox for Williamson so he could drive to Atlanta. Then on Saturday, roughly 10 minutes after medics pronounced Pollard dead, she received a video call from Williamson who showed her images of the rented SUV, court records show. The vehicle’s windshield and passenger side appeared to be heavily damaged and dented, she said.
Police caught up with Williamson at his grandmother’s house and the SUV was found in an alley with extensive damage to its passenger side, records state.
Williamson faces multiple charges, including auto theft, intimidation, armed robbery, battery resulting in bodily injury, and murder.
The Marion County Prosecutors Office will review the case and make a final charging decision.