New details on man accused of wild police chase through downtown Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - The man state troopers said showed a disregard for human life during a wild rush hour chase Thursday through downtown Louisville was arraigned Friday morning on a long list of charges.

Thomas Trummer is locked up in Metro Corrections on a $100,000 bond.

WAVE 3 News learned this wasn’t the first time Trummer has faced charges of fleeing from the law. He has quite a long criminal history, stretching back to 2010 across four counties. A majority of the charges are vehicle related, involving meth and fleeing from officers.

Trummer had two outstanding warrants when Kentucky State Police say he was approached by a trooper at the Kroger on Dixie Highway on June 11.

The trooper said he appeared to be asleep behind the wheel of his parked car. When the trooper knocked on the window, he said Trummer woke up and appeared to be disoriented and under the influence.

Trummer only rolled the window down a few inches and the trooper said he reached in to open the car door.

That’s when the trooper said Trummer rolled the window up, catching his arm inside the car. Trummer backed up, dragging the trooper across the parking lot, according to KSP. Once the trooper let go, Trummer backed into a cart corral and sped out of the parking lot, nearly hitting a pedestrian, police said.

The trooper said he began to follow Trummer north on Dixie Highway. He was allegedly driving 90 mph, weaving in and out of oncoming traffic and nearly hitting construction workers before reaching the Greenbelt Highway.

The trooper reported Trummer reached 120 mph while on the highway before he turned onto Lower River Road and the trooper stopped pursuing him due to safety reasons.

Trummer wasn’t spotted again until just before 6 p.m. Thursday night, when a trooper saw him in the parking lot of Hotel Louisville with a woman passenger in his car.

As the troopers approached him, Trummer took off again, ramming another car and a police cruiser, then almost hitting a trooper on foot. KSP said troopers began to fire at the vehicle before Trummer busted through the fence and into traffic at the busy intersection of Broadway and Second Street.

KSP lost contact with the suspect and called LMPD for assistance at that time.

“It happened so quickly. I mean quickly, like 10 seconds,” witness Carl Ash said.

Ash saw the madness Thursday after Trummer lost KSP and right before LMPD caught up.

“There was a car flying in the wrong direction, hit a van and spun out,” Ash said. “We were trying to get the people out of the road. They were in the middle of the road standing there watching it. It was crazy to see him come flying and then he disappeared.”

Ash says Trummer must have been going at least 50 mph the wrong way down Liberty Street, speeding through the crowded dinner time rush at Fourth Street Live!

Trummer also scraped MetroSafe’s headquarters on Fifth Street, according to police. After Trummer allegedly wreaked havoc downtown, police say he ditched the car on I-64 West, and ran on foot into Lannan Memorial Park, where he was arrested near the river.

The woman was found in the car and detained by police, but later released. Miraculously, no one was injured during all of this.

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