An Elkhart man is in police custody, after he was discovered suffering from heat exhaustion while attempting to escape arrest Wednesday, according to the Cass County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies with the department first encountered the suspect after stopping his vehicle, which was traveling 96 mph at the time, on Decatur Road near Kelsey Lake Street in Penn Township around 5:52 p.m. Shortly after initiating the stop, the suspect fled from his vehicle on foot.

Deputies called in the unit’s K-9, Faust, to help track down the fleeing suspect. The dog tracked the man for 3.4 miles through a thick wooded area and corn field, before police called off the search to protect the canine from heat exhaustion.

Police located the suspect a short time later, near the intersection of O’Keefe Road and Shurte Street, north of Cassopolis. The man was taken to Borgess-Lee Memorial Hospital in Dowagiac, where he was treated for heat exhaustion and dehydration, before police escorted him to Cass County Jail.

He is currently being jailed on charges of fleeing and eluding police, resisting a police officer, possession of a firearm and operating a vehicle without a license.

Crews with Life Care Ambulance and security with Cassopolis’ Edward Lowe Foundation assisted police during incident.