Man armed with antique pistol rear-ends cop, tosses drugs out window, IN police say

A 69-year-old Indiana man was found with drugs, a pipe and an antique pistol after he rear-ended an occupied cruiser, authorities say.

The minor fender bender happened at 3 p.m. Tuesday, March 25, at an intersection in Columbus, Bartholomew County Sheriff Chris Lane said in a Facebook post.

The driver told Deputy JD Myers that “his foot slipped off the brake,” Lane said.

Neither of the men were hurt and their vehicles were fine, but as Myers was documenting the accident, he saw the other driver throw a small bag of drugs out of his car, the sheriff’s office said.

When Myers confronted him, the man said he didn’t know anything about a baggie, which he had tossed under his car, according to the sheriff’s office.

The contents of the bag tested presumptive positive for fentanyl, the sheriff’s office said.

A search revealed the man was armed with a very old pistol, and had a pipe “used to smoke suspected narcotics,” according to the sheriff.

The sheriff shared a photo of the gun, which appears to be an antique single-shot pistol chambered to fire .410 shotgun shells. It closely resembles a model that stopped being manufactured in 1934.

The man was arrested on drug and firearm charges, the sheriff said. His bond was set at $15,000.

Columbus is a roughly 45-mile drive southeast from Indianapolis.

This story was originally published March 26, 2025 at 3:39 PM with the headline "Man armed with antique pistol rear-ends cop, tosses drugs out window, IN police say."