Clerk injured during struggle over car keys

A Noblesville man was arrested Saturday, accused of stealing a woman’s vehicle outside a Walesboro gas station and injuring the victim in the process.

Columbus police say that the incident happened at about 4:20 a.m. outside the gas station in the 3500 block of West County Road 450S. A store clerk was allegedly grabbed outside of the store by a man with a knife, who stole her car keys. During the struggle, the victim was injured, suffering cuts and scrapes. The attacker then took her vehicle and fled north on Interstate 65.

A Bartholomew County Sheriff’s deputy began chasing the vehicle and eventually it was pulled over just south of the Johnson/Shelby county line.

The driver, 29-year-old Josey R. Keesling was arrested on charges including robbery with a deadly weapon, battery with serious bodily injury, auto theft, intimidation, and resisting law enforcement with a vehicle.