Capsule Reports - Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024

Woman injured

A Portland woman sustained injuries to her head and eyes after she crashed into the back of the vehicles in front of her at the intersection of U.S. 27 and county road 800 North about 5:20 p.m. Tuesday.

Milise L. Beitler, 56, Portland, was driving a 2019 Jeep Cherokee south on the highway behind a 2019 Dodge Grand Caravan driven by 29-year-old Gabie Huntsman of Portland. Huntsman was driving behind a 2010 Ford Escape driven by 24-year-old Jose L. Hernandez of Portland. According to a Jay County Sheriff’s Office report, Hernandez and Huntsman stopped waiting on a truck in front of them to turn onto county road 800 North. Beitler’s vehicle crashed into the back of Huntsman’s van, causing Beitler’s car to go off the west side of the highway into a ditch and strike a road sign, cross county road 800 North on the west side of the highway and stop in a bean field. 

Beitler’s vehicle also struck the back of the vehicle Hernandez was driving.

Beitler was administered a blood alcohol and drug test with results pending. Hernandez was arrested and preliminarily charged with a Class C misdemeanor for driving without a license. He was being held in Jay County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

The vehicle Hernandez was driving — it’s registered to De La Cruz Hernandez of Portland — and the other two vehicles were towed, with damage estimated between $50,000 and $100,000.