Good Guy with a Gun #171: Vigo County, IN
You HAVE to watch this video. Stolen truck rams Corvette. Owner shoots back from the hood. Naked perp leaps from the truck window. All in just nine seconds. | Original incident: April 20, 2024
These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar. Today’s post is significantly updated from the calendar version.
At about 11 PM on a Saturday night, Ron May and his girlfriend were arriving at home just outside of Terre Haute. They had been followed by a red pickup for a little bit, and May put his gun into his front pocket just in case.
“I didn't know what was going on,” he said. “So I did put my pistol in my right front pocket. I told my girl to stay in the car, and I just stood outside my car to see who it was. At this point I didn't know, did he want some directions?”
The pickup stopped outside his house, and May waited for a minute to see what was going on. That’s where this video picks up the story. May is in the white Corvette. Give the scene about 21 seconds to develop.
Yeah, that’s what you just saw: The pickup accelerated and smashed into May’s car. May jumped up and over the top of his car as it hit, but the violence of the hit broke May’s shins and injured his girlfriend, who was still in the passenger seat.
May, still on his back on the hood of his car, fired his weapon multiple times, then sat up and fired some more.
Dustin Roecker, 35, leapt out of the pickup driver’s side window — naked — and fled.
Police set up a perimeter in the area around May’s home, but then received a call from the Indianapolis state police: They were chasing a blue Kia, and sure enough, that had been stolen from May’s neighborhood. After a chase, they took a perforated Roecker from the stolen car.
All that time, they were piecing together the beginning of his havoc-wreaking night.
The pickup truck that Roecker had rammed into May? Stolen, naturally. And a little over an hour before hitting May’s car, he had been seen driving that truck near a Culver’s fast-food place. A pedestrian spotted him as he (Roecker) circled the parking lot with his bare leg hanging out the window. Then Roecker revved the engine and charged the pedestrian, hitting him and throwing him into the air.
Roecker was charged with attempted murder, criminal recklessness with a vehicle resulting in serious bodily injury, reckless driving resulting in serious bodily injury, resisting law enforcement, vehicle theft, and battery with a dangerous object. Several of those include multiple counts.
His trial date was set for October 15, 2024.
Later developments
As you probably know, if you’re involved in a shooting, the police will take your weapon even if you’ve done nothing wrong.
"You want to do a thorough investigation on every piece of evidence, to make sure that you can show that everything was covered in front of a jury, if it goes that far," WTHI-TV 10 quoted Vigo County Prosecutor Terry Modesitt.
So, naturally, the police took May’s gun. It is what it is.
When May went to Top Guns in Terre Haute, they gifted him a new one, free of charge. Nice gesture, people.
“I would carry my gun occasionally, if I felt the need,” May said. “I usually kept it in my vehicle. Since this attack I am looking to carry full time at this point, because clearly you never know what is going to happen. So I definitely want to be prepared next time.”
Finally, in June, he replaced his totaled white Corvette C7 with a new red Corvette C8. (I’m sure that means something to Corvette fans.)
I don’t recall ever seeing this level of detail on the aftermath of an incident before.
And what about our naked lunatic, Dustin Roecker?
In November, 2025 — remember that this incident occurred in April of 2024 (and for those of you with a calendar, we were already printed by then) — Roecker pled guilty to two counts of attempted murder and one count of battery by means of a deadly weapon. The agreement included a total of 20 years in prison and five years of work release after that.
Sources
There was a lot of coverage on this incident, rich as it was with click-fodder — naked perp, high-speed ramming, and pristine surveillance video complete with full color and sound — but I’m going to limit the list to the excellent work done by WTHI-TV 10. Between them, Ben Verbanic (mostly) and Chris Essex did no fewer than six articles on this incident, giving a pretty complete set of facts each time and adding details as he went. For the new gun and new car articles, it’s best to watch the video.
Trial date set for man accused of running down two people in a stolen truck in Vigo County (April 29)
“I never want to go unprotected ever again” - survivor of viscous [sic] driveway attack gets new gun (May 9)
Terre Haute man replaces Corvette destroyed in random car ramming (June 19)
Naked driver who rammed Vigo Co. man in a stolen truck, pleads guilty (November 25, 2025)
That's amazing. The shooter should have been dead -- it's incredible that he managed to jump onto the car. I'm glad his girlfriend survived, too; hope she wasn't too badly injured.