Man arrested following a fatal accident

A Pennville resident has been arrested in connection with a fatal all-terrain vehicle accident.

Terry D. Emerick, 48, 401 E. Pleasant St., was preliminarily charged Sunday with operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing serious bodily injury, a Level 6 felony.

Rural Portland resident Robert H. Langenkamp Jr., 68, died Sunday evening as a result of a head injury he sustained after falling off the vehicle.

According to a Jay County Sheriff’s Office report, Emerick was driving a 2018 Polaris Ranger east on Division Road just west of county road 200 East with Langenkamp in the passenger seat about 10:06 p.m. Saturday. Langenkamp, Emerick’s father-in-law, instructed him to turn north onto county road 200 East as he approached the intersection. Emerick attempted to make the turn at an unsafe speed, according to the report, causing Langenkamp to fall out of the vehicle. Langenkamp appeared to have struck the road and rolled onto the side of it, leaving him unconscious, the report says. Langenkamp was flown to a hospital in Fort Wayne and later died.

Emerick appeared to be intoxicated, according to the report, and he was administered a preliminary breath test as well as a blood test for blood alcohol level with results pending. (In Indiana, drunk driving is a criminal charge when a person operating a vehicle has a blood alcohol level of at least 0.08%.)

Cadence Nibarger and Jake and Rachell Boolman told police they were sitting on a porch along Division Road and watched the vehicle drive past them at a high rate of speed. They noticed the Ranger stop at the intersection and drove to the site of the crash. Jake Boolman called 911.

Indiana Department of Natural Resources assisted with the crash investigation.

Emerick was being held on a $3,000 bond in Jay County Jail. Jay County Sheriff Ray Newton said the case will be forwarded to Jay County Prosecutor’s Office to determine charges that may be filed in court.

A person who “causes the death or catastrophic injury of another person when operating a vehicle” with a blood alcohol level of 0.08% or more while intoxicated commits a Level 4 felony, according to Indiana Code. A Level 4 felony sentence in Indiana ranges from two to 12 years, with an advisory sentence of six years.