Man accused of illegally dumping tires in Gary, Indiana
Police in Gary, Indiana have arrested a man they say was caught on video illegally dumping tires off a pickup truck.
Back on March 5, the Gary Police Department got a tip about a gray Chevrolet truck dumping tires behind the area of 38th Avenue and Broadway. Investigators found the vehicle using the city's automated license plate readers.
Two days later, Gary police officer and code enforcers visited a body shop called the Lake County Collision Center, at 3734 Malcolm X Dr. in Gary, and saw stacks of tires in the building. The owner of the body shop was questioned, and it turned out he did not have a proper business license.
On Friday of last week, officers tracked the pickup truck through East Chicago and Gary. It was eventually found in the 4700 block of Johnson Avenue in Hammond, where officers saw a man get into a pickup truck looking just like the one involved in the tire dumping.
Hammond police pulled over the pickup truck, and Gary police officers came to the scene to arrest Armando Ignacio Martinez, 49, of South Holland, Illinois.
Martinez was taken to the Gary Police Department station, while the vehicle was impounded.
Police warned that illegal dumping is a significant and widespread problem in Gary. Dumped materials such as tires create health hazards, increase fire risks, and degrade quality of life, police said.
