KENNER, La. -- A man is in custody after leading state police and Jefferson Parish deputies on a chase in Kenner that ended with his car in the water.

The chase was brief, officials said, ending soon after it began around 2 a.m. Thursday. Col. John Fortunato, a spokesperson for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, said that the chase began after an LPR camera picked up the license plate of the truck that Matthew Scharwath, 20, had been driving. The truck had been reported as being stolen. The chase ended after Scharwath drove the truck into Lake Ponchartrain near the Treasure Chest Casino.

Fortunato said that Scharwath's father, in fact, was the one who had reported the vehicle as stolen. The father claims that he hadn't realized that the son had the vehicle. Fortunato said that the son was a heroin addict, citing that as the reason the suspect fled from police.

Deputies helped the suspect get out of the water and called a tow truck, which removed the truck from the lake around 5 a.m. The suspect was transported to a local hospital, where he is being treated for hypothermia.

Fortunato said that because the vehicle was not stolen, he was not booked with stolen possession of a vehicle. He was booked with traffic charges and resisting arrest by flight, however.