A Valparaiso man who led officers in a foot pursuit following a traffic stop was taken into custody on Sunday after he injured himself while fleeing through a Liberty Township field and called 911 for help, the Porter County Sheriff’s Police said. According to police, at 9:11 p.m. Julian Raymond Duron, 23, of 717-1 Baltimore Road, was stopped on Longcommon Road in Portage for failing to signal a turn. When the officer approached Duron’s vehicle and attempted to make contact with him, Duron accelerated and left the scene, police said. Duron traveled only a short distance, however, before leaving the roadway at the intersection of Longcommon Road and Cedar Creek Circle, heading into a field, and promptly getting his pickup truck stuck “in the extremely muddy landscape,” police said. Duron exited the truck and took off south, followed by the PCSP officer, who was soon joined by a Burns Harbor PD officer and Portage PD K-9 unit. The three had succeeded in tracking Duron to a tree line, then into an open field on the south side of the trees, when they were informed by dispatch that Duron had called in to say that he’d injured himself while fleeing a traffic stop and now “was unable to walk,” police said. “Officers in the area advised they could hear (Duron) screaming.” Dispatch, not knowing exactly where Duron had gotten himself to--except that he ’ d crossed Ind. 149 and had left Portage for Liberty Township--pinged his cell phone, which returned to an area in the 1000 north block of Ind. 149. There, in a treeline a quarter mile north of C.R. 1000N, officers located Duron, who stated he ’d injured his left knee and lower back, police said. Officers cuffed him, then carried him to the EMS staging area. Duron was charged with possession of cocaine and possession of marijuana--a quantity of each was found in his vehicle, police said--two counts of resisting law enforcement, possession of paraphernalia, and operating a vehicle without ever obtaining a license. Duron was also found to be wanted on two Porter County arrest warrants charging him with domestic battery, strangulation, battery, interfering with reporting a crime, and failure to appear on a charge of theft, police said. And Duron was issued a wri tten warning for failure to signal a turn. Duron was medically cleared at Porter Regional Hospital and then transported to Porter County Jail. While en route to PCJ, he stated that he recognized the investigating officer from previous encounters and “decided to run” because the officer “would be able to identify him,” police said. Posted 3/1/2016