CROWN POINT — The murder charge against a Hammond man who was accused of fatally shooting a tire shop worker and wounding his brother was dropped Thursday.
St. John Police CIT Officer Dustin Wartman is trained in mental health intervention.
Prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss without prejudice, meaning the case can be tried again, on Tuesday. The motion was granted Thursday by Judge Gina Jones, according to court records.
Ricky A. Scott III, 25, was charged with murdering Uriel Arambula, 25, during a fight May 5, 2020, with multiple others outside Adrian's Tire Repair, 1161 Michigan St.
Orlando L. Berrios, 26, was also charged in connection with Arambula’s death. Berrios, Arambula’s brother and Scott were also injured in the shooting, according to charging documents.
Berrios still faces felony charges of intimidation, criminal recklessness committed with a deadly weapon, and battery resulting in moderate bodily injury; and two misdemeanor charges of reckless driving.
Berrios’s next court appearance is set for June 20 in Jones’s courtroom.
Charging records say that on , Berrios got into a car crash with one of the Arambulas friends, who was driving a red or maroon pickup.
The man driving the truck wouldn’t pull over after the crash, so Berrios began tailgating him in his silver Infiniti, records stated. Berrios eventually called Scott for backup, and the two chased the pickup driver until they arrived at Adrian’s Tire Repair, where a physical fight and the eventual shooting occurred, according to the probable-cause affidavit.
Defendants in murder cases are typically not awarded bail, but Scott was in March 2021, according to court records. His petition to let bail was originally scheduled for January 2021, but it continually got pushed back as the COVID-19 pandemic slowed court proceedings nationwide.
Scott was set to go to trial June 12, according to court records.
Previous reporting from The Times shows that defense attorneys Paul Stracci and Michael Woods wrote in court filings that Scott acted in self-defense, as he feared that Uriel Arambula would shoot him.
The state’s motion to dismiss read that “after going through a Petition to Let Bail hearing that was granted, the state cannot presently meets its evidentiary burden of disproving self-defense.”
A spokesperson from the prosecutor’s office was not available to clarify why it took over a year after Scott’s petition to let bail was granted for the charges to get dismissed.
“This was a terrible tragedy for everyone involved,” Stracci and Woods wrote in an emailed statement to the Times. “We are pleased with the state of Indiana’s decision to dismiss the case against Mr. Scott. This is the correct outcome.”
Gallery: Recent arrests booked into Lake County Jail
