A 69-year-old man from Carmel is accused of impersonating law enforcement after flashing a badge to get into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 17 without a ticket or parking pass, according to a police report.
The man is alleged to have displayed the badge at security before driving through a gate meant for employees and deliveries.
He has been preliminarily charged with criminal trespassing, theft and impersonation of a public servant. IndyStar is not naming the man because he wasn’t formally charged at the time of publication. He remained at the Marion County jail about 2:30 p.m. on May 18.
A police report shows the incident happened at 11:19 a.m. May 17 and was reported about three hours later.
A Speedway police officer was working off-duty employment when the senior director of safety and security for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway told the officer about a man driving a “newer” Black Chevrolet Silverado with a Ball State license plate driving through one of the gates without properly identifying himself.
Every vehicle going through the gate is checked by guards to make sure people have the proper identification to enter, the officer wrote in court documents. The officer went to the gate in the 2600 block of Georgetown Road to speak with security guards, who explained that the man held up a sheriff’s badge and then accelerated through the gate even when asked to stop.
“…The louder he yelled to stop, the more the driver accelerated,” the officer wrote in a probable cause affidavit for the 69-year-old’s arrest.
That same vehicle had gone through the gate on May 9, 2026, during the Sonsio Grand Prix, according to court documents. In that instance, guards blew their whistles at the man to stop, but he continued to accelerate after flashing the sheriff’s badge.
After reviewing camera footage of the May 17 interaction and looking up the license plate, the pickup was found parked outside on a gravel lot that’s supposed to be for emergency and Indianapolis Motor Speedway vehicles.
It was towed near the gate for the owner to come back for it.
At 4:45 p.m., the man was seen being escorted by an employee in a golf cart and pointing at the Chevrolet before the Speedway Police officer approached him.
When asked if he was law enforcement, the man said, “I bought a fake badge online,” the officer wrote in court documents, adding that the man pulled out the replica of a Marion County Sheriff’s badge from his wallet and two Indianapolis Motor Speedway ID cards before he was arrested. Police do not specify in the court documents if the ID cards were fake or if the man had previously worked at the track.
His initial court date is set for May 21, 2026.
Jade Jackson is a public safety reporter for the Indianapolis Star. You can email her at Jade.Jackson@IndyStar.com and follow her on X, formerly Twitter @IAMJADEJACKSON.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Police accuse Carmel man of flashing fake badge to enter Indy 500
Reporting by Jade Jackson, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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