Police

An Elkhart man died in a single-vehicle crash last week in Cass County’s Porter Township. Sheriff Richard Behnke said deputies were called shortly before 4 p.m. Friday to an area on Bellows Road, near Idlewild Street. Chase Miller, age 28, was driving north on Bellows Road when his vehicle left the roadway and went into a pond. Miller’s body was …

Deputies from the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department last week arrested a man driving a stolen vehicle in Sherman Township. According to a department media release, deputies were called Thursday to a report of a man driving a stolen vehicle. They responded to an area near Banker Street and Shimmel Road and eventually found the vehicle in question. John Fox …

A Michigan man whose hobbies include ritualized combat with replica weapons from the Middle Ages says he wielded a battle ax he calls “my baby” to fend off an intruder. Thirty-six-year-old Ben Ball tells WOOD-TV he was playing video games at his apartment in Oshtemo Township late Wednesday when someone who once dated his ex-roommate kicked in his door. He …

St. Joseph County Sheriff Brad Balk announced Tuesday he will retire at the end of January. Balk, 65, said his last day will be Jan. 31, 11 months before the end of his four-year elected term. Sheriff since 2009, Balk appeared before county commission members and read a one-page letter in which he stated his plans to step down. He …

A southwestern Michigan police chief has died after crashing his vehicle into a tree. Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Sgt. Craig Schmaltz says 59-year-old Nashville Police Chief Chris Allen Koster died in the crash about 8:30 a.m. Thursday in Richland Township. Investigators say Koster’s vehicle went off a road and struck a tree. No other passengers were in Koster’s vehicle at the …

State police officials are investigating the theft of a trailer from a location in Constantine Township. The incident occurred between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Thursday in the 12000 block of Miller Road. The trailer was white and made by Jayco. Its value is estimated to be $7,000, according to authorities.

A state police patrol car was struck while its driver was on patrol over the weekend along Interstate 94 in Calhoun County. According to a department media release, the trooper was driving in the westbound lane at 9:15 p.m. Wednesday in the area of Beadle Lake Road, which is exit No. 100. The trooper had been patrolling a construction zone …

Cass County Sheriff’s deputies were called earlier this month to a single-vehicle accident on Pokagon Highway. According to Sheriff Richard Behnke, deputies were dispatched around 11 p.m. Aug. 15 to an area in the vicinity of Pokagon Highway and Oak Grove Road in LaGrange Township. Ardee Joseph-Louis Mabry, 36, of Battle Creek, told authorities he was driving east on Pokagon …

State police troopers were called over the weekend to a home in Branch County’s Sherwood Township regarding a domestic disturbance Troopers were dispatched Sunday to a residence where they learned the suspect had injured himself and fled on foot. A K-9 unit was summoned and led to the apprehension of the suspect in a nearby field. The suspect was transported …

The Michigan State Police have identified the man killed in a motorcycle accident Sunday night in Constantine Township. Troopers said that Spencer Minor, 28, of White Pigeon, was killed in the accident. He was riding his motorcycle southbound on U.S. 131 when another vehicle turned into his pathway, causing the accident. Minor was thrown from his bike into oncoming traffic. …