MAN SHOT BY POLICE HAD LINKS TO METH

Years of run-ins with the law and a methamphetamine habit finally led to
the police shooting and death of Scott A. Smith, said his family and friends.

Smith, 34, of rural Bartholomew County, was chased by police on Monday,
hours after prosecutors filed charges against him for attempted murder.

He crashed an SUV through a fence off Wolf Creek Road in western
Bartholomew County and bled to death after a shootout, an autopsy on
Tuesday revealed.

Police had been seeking the man since March 8, when he fired at deputies
trying to arrest him on several charges. He escaped into the woods near
Camp Atterbury.

On March 24 they learned he was at a home in Brookside Estates on Columbus'
south side.

They opted not to pursue him after officers learned he was armed, with
children and in a residential area, Bartholomew County Prosecutor Bill Nash
said.

Monday, officers received a tip that Smith was driving a silver S-10 Blazer
east out of Brown County. An unmarked Bartholomew County Sheriff's Office
car tried to follow Smith inconspicuously, Nash said, but the man appeared
to have spotted them and accelerated quickly. The chase led them to Wolf
Creek Road.

On Tuesday, Smith's brother, William Smith of Bartholomew County, said
years of trouble were the root of his younger brother's death, though he
added that he'd never seen the man get violent until early March.

"Other than his drug problem, he was a really good guy," William Smith
said, adding that his brother loved the outdoors and was liked by many who
knew him.

He said, however, that his brother was determined not to go back to jail.
Bartholomew County jail records showed he had been booked 12 times since 1988.

"A lot of these people, they don't understand how much they need help,"
Smith said of meth users. "I understand my brother lent himself to the
(shooting) situation, but the system let him down.

"It got to a point where he said, 'I'm not going back to jail.'" Smith said.