Police

Police in Kalamazoo say they’ve learned who was in a vehicle with a decorative vehicle plate quoting a song by Hank Williams Jr. involved in a hit-and-run accident that critically injured a pedestrian.   Capt. Julie Parsons said in a statement Monday that 20-year-old Julian Watkins remained in critical condition at Bronson Hospital.   Parsons says the “assistance of citizens” led investigators …

A 33- year-old Sturgis man escaped serious injury last week, when he crashed a motorcycle. Deputies said Michael Ritter was eastbound on Banker Street, near Zabel Shores about 11: 30 p.m. Wednesday, when he tried to avoid a deer, lost control of the motorcycle and crashed. Police said Ritter and the bike slid about 70 feet along the pavement. Ritter …

Three Jones residents were arrested on drug-related offenses and a child placed into protective custody following an incident Tuesday afternoon. The Cass County Drug Enforcement Team executed a search warrant at a residence in the 61000 block of High Street. Upon entry into the residence, investigators found used meth labs and components to manufacture methamphetamine. A handgun, methamphetamine and marijuana …

A 3 year-old child suffered minor cuts from shattered glass after the passenger’s side of a van was hit by a train engine in White Pigeon Township Friday afternoon. The St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department said the crash, which occurred around 2:45 p.m. on Elkhart Street, just outside the village limits, took place when the driver of the van, Dominic …

One person was airlifted to Borgess Medical Center after a crash around 7 p.m. last Wednesday in Nottawa Township. St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department deputies said Centreville resident Carol Ann Walls was driving north on Nottawa Road when she failed to stop at the intersection of M-86. Walls’ vehicle struck a car headed east on M-86. Occupants of the second vehicle, Brian …

The St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department was summoned shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday in response to a two-vehicle accident in Fawn River Township. Investigators said a pickup driven by a 58-year-old Coldwater man was eastbound on U.S. 12 when a vehicle driven by an 18-year-old Westland woman attempted to make a left turn onto Carls Road The driver of the …

Cass County authorities recovered the body of a South Bend man who drowned Monday in Kirk Lake, northeast of Vandalia. The body of Eugene Carpenter, 69, was found Monday afternoon. Cass County authorities were called to the public access of Kirk Lake about 2 p.m. after a boat was found abandoned. Officials said it appears Carpenter was attempting to launch …

St. Joseph County Sheriff Brad Balk said car-deer collisions, drunken-driving arrests and the number of complaints investigated by the department in 2011 all increased from the year before. During his annual report to the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners last month, Balk said the department in 2011 experienced an 11-year high with 65 arrests for motorists operating under the …

The Sturgis Police Department is reminding city residents that the municipality’s general noise ordinance will be enforced for fireworks-related complaints received Tuesday through Thursday. Deputy Chief David Ives said jurisdictions with a noise ordinance in place before the state’s approval of commercial-grade fireworks for the general public can be enforced. Meanwhile, the Sturgis Fire Department reminds residents that extreme caution …

Cass County Sheriff Joseph Underwood Jr. said his department is investigating a homicide that occurred around 1:30 p.m. Friday in the 19000 block of U.S. 12 in Mason Township. Deputies responded to a report of a person stabbed and found the victim, Martha Sexton, dead as a result of stab-related injuries. The suspect, 59-year-old Edward Hensley, is the victim’s brother. …