Capsule Reports - July 22, 2023

Pursuit crash

A police pursuit caused vehicles to crash in a field near county road 250 West about 9:22 p.m. Sunday.

Craig A. Jarvis, 34, a Pennville resident working for Portland Police Department, was driving a 2021 Dodge Durango police vehicle southwest in a wheat field in pursuit of 50-year-old Shannon R. Newton of Anderson, who allegedly had stolen a vehicle.

 The car Jarvis was driving hit the vehicle Newton was driving, according to a Jay County Sheriff’s Office report, and went into a ditch. 

The vehicle Newton was driving went through a fence and yard owned by Carol Limbert of rural Portland. Jarvis also went off county road 700 South and into a corn field, taking down five rows of corn.

Damage is estimated between $10,000 and $25,000. Newton was arrested for resisting law enforcement, a Level 6 felony. He’s charged in Jay Circuit Court with auto theft, a Level 5 felony. He is being held on a $3,000 bond.