Police

A 43-year-old man was arrested Tuesday after investigators from the St. Joseph County Area Narcotics unit executed a search warrant in the 23000 block of U.S. 12 in Sturgis Township. SCAN officers received information about methamphetamine activity at the residence and upon executing a search warrant, the suspect was taken into custody for numerous charges. Investigators said he was charged …

Distraction is the major factor in 58-percent of all crashes involving teenagers, based on a new report from the Triple-A Foundation for Traffic Safety. The report cites video analysis that found distraction was a factor in nearly 6 out of 10 moderate-to-severe teen crashes, which is four times as many as official estimates based on police reports. Researchers analyzed the six seconds …

A man is behind bars after gunfire Wednesday in Kalamazoo. Police responding to reports of gunfire found a car with several people inside, one of whom ran off, throwing away a loaded handgun as he fled. The 18-year-old man was caught and arrested. The pistol was found to be stolen. Police say they also found heroin, cocaine and meth on the suspect when …

State police said 56 Michigan public school districts – including Sturgis Public Schools – will get a share of $4 million in funding to boost school safety. The money announced last week will be used to purchase equipment and technology to improve the safety and security of school buildings, students and staff. Grant recipients have until Sept. 15 to spend …

Up to six officials from the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department were granted permission to attend an out-of-state conference later this year. Members of the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners approved the request for the employees to attend the American Jail Association annual meeting in North Carolina. The conference will not impose a cost to the county, as all …

Authorities say a man has been hurt after apparently trying to scale a building to get into his apartment from another balcony and falling six floors. The Ann Arbor News reports Tuesday that the 51-year-old Ann Arbor man had arm and leg injuries but was conscious when police arrived Sunday evening. He told officers he’d fallen down the outside of …

Three people were hurt when a methamphetamine lab exploded near Battle Creek early Sunday. Calhoun County Sheriff’s deputies responded to Bronson-Battle Creek hospital shortly after 3:00 am when the victims arrived. Deputies say they believe a 45-year-old man was cooking meth in his Burlington Township home when the explosion occurred, leaving him with severe burns to his face and hands. He has …

A former Constantine Police reserve officer was sentenced Friday to at least 20 months in prison for lying under oath in a case related to the homicide of 11-year-old Jodi Parrack. Raymond McCann II, who previously pled no contest to lying under oath during the investigative subpoena into the 2007 homicide of Parrack, was sentenced in St. Joseph County Circuit …

A pair of funding requests from the St. Joseph County E-911 Central Dispatch was approved by county commissioners last week. The agency was allotted $4,128 for security cameras to replace black-and-white cameras that are 15 years old, and $74,200 was granted to repair and make improvements to the Centreville communications tower. County administrator Pat Yoder said the upgrade for security …

A former Constantine reserve police officer is headed to prison for lying to investigators probing the November 2007 slaying of an 11-year-old southwest Michigan girl. 47-year old Raymond McCann of Constantine was sentenced in a St. Joseph County court to 20 months 20 years in prison after pleading no contest last month to one count of perjury. McCann was arrested in April 2014, …