A 19-year-old man accused of riding in a stolen, fleeing vehicle that struck and killed an Indiana State Police trooper last summer pleaded guilty to resisting law enforcement on Monday.

An auto theft charge filed against Demareon Curry will be dismissed as part of an agreement with Hendricks County prosecutors. The collision that killed Trooper Aaron N. Smith occurred in June 2023 on Ronald Reagan Parkway just outside of Indianapolis.

Curry’s sentence will be decided by a Hendricks County judge at a hearing on June 17, according to the plea agreement.

Eddie Pernell Jones, 19, is the accused driver of the 2016 Chevrolet Traverse that struck the police officer. He is charged with murder, resisting law enforcement and auto theft in connection with Smith’s death.

A jury trial for Jones is set to begin in October, court records show.

Previous coverage: Car that fatally struck Indiana trooper stolen days earlier, driver held without bond

Six days before the deadly collision, Jones, Curry and a 15-year-old girl were at Jones’ mother’s home in Sikeston, Mo., about 144 miles south of St. Louis. Jones’ mother fell asleep and the trio stole her Traverse, according to a probable cause affidavit for Jones’ arrest.

It’s unclear why they traveled to Indianapolis, but Jones told police they arrived on June 26 and slept in the car in a hotel parking lot.

On June 28, 2023, the three were parked in the Traverse at a gas station/McDonald’s on Kentucky Avenue near South High School Road on the southwest side of Indianapolis.  

Curry alerted the group to the police being behind them. Dash camera footage showed an Indiana State Police trooper pulling behind the Chevy Traverse. The trooper had received a notification from a nearby license-plate-reading camera that the car was stolen, according to the affidavit.

The trooper activated his emergency lights and began giving verbal commands for the occupants of the car to stick their hands out the windows. As the trooper waited for backup, Jones, Curry and the girl initially complied, the dash camera footage showed.

More: Trooper slain trying to stop fleeing car saved 2 lives in 2022, served in National Guard

Video showed the Traverse backing into one of the squad cars then hitting another vehicle in the McDonald’s parking lot before fleeing. That’s when two ISP troopers began pursuing in their squad cars.  

Jones later told police he was trying to get to the interstate because Curry believed troopers would stop the pursuit at that point, according to the affidavit.  

Jones told police his glasses slipped off so he couldn’t see well while trying to escape police. He also said he saw Smith from about 100 yards away and he applied the brakes and lost control of the car before the collision, according to the affidavit.

Video from a traffic camera reviewed by IndyStar showed the Chevrolet turning toward Smith as he was throwing stop sticks onto the road in front of the Traverse.

More: Two Indiana troopers were killed by fleeing vehicles. Could their deaths prompt change?

The probable cause affidavits in the case note Jones was driving almost two full travel lanes away from Smith shortly before the crash.

Smith and the stolen vehicle landed in an embankment off the side of the road. Troopers drew their weapons and ordered the occupants of the Traverse to exit the car.

Curry and the girl exited, while Jones was entrapped in the car. All three were taken to a hospital for evaluation. Smith was rushed to Eskenazi Hospital, where he died, according to state police. Investigators later found out the 15-year-old girl is a ward of the state of Missouri, who had been reported missing.

Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Allen19.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Passenger in crash that killed Trooper Aaron Smith agrees to plea