Thursday, March 19, 2024 - Capsule reports

Hit and run

A Bryant man was arrested for leaving the scene of an accident after he allegedly struck a Fort Wayne man’s car along U.S. 27 in Jay County about 10:12 a.m. Saturday.

Bruce H. Finke, 73, told police he was driving his 2013 Toyota Sienna north on the highway near county road 300 North when a 2006 Toyota Rav4 sideswiped his driver’s side. Finke said the vehicle had been “driving recklessly at a high speed,” according to a Jay County Sheriff’s Office report, and “swerving all over the roadway into incoming traffic.”

The vehicle, located in Bryant, was occupied by 38-year-old Juan Carlos Hernandez. He told police he had been drinking and he smelled of alcohol, had balance issues and had bloodshot eyes, according to the report. Hernandez refused a blood alcohol test.

Carlos Hernandez was preliminarily charged with two Class B misdemeanors for operating a vehicle while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident. (According to the report, he had also been driving without a license.) 

He was being held on a $1,500 bond in Jay County Jail.

The vehicle he was driving is registered to Maurina De La Cruz Hernan of Portland. Damage is estimated between $10,000 and $25,000.

Pole hit

A Portland man lost control of the vehicle he was driving, causing him to crash into a pole along county road 150 East about 8:09 p.m. Sunday.

Jonah M. Southworth, 18, was driving north on the road just north of county road 400 North when he lost control of the back of the 2001 Ford Ranger he was driving. He told police he overcorrected, causing the vehicle to go off the east side of the road and hit a utility pole in Linda Imel’s yard. The pole broke and fell into the road, according to a Jay County Sheriff’s Office report, causing power lines to fall across the road.

American Electric Power removed the pole and wires from the road. The vehicle Southworth was driving — it’s registered to Kaela S. Ragon of Winchester — was towed.

Damage is estimated between $10,000 and $25,000.