INCIDENTS
City:
Thursday, 2:10 p.m., Bluffton High School, 1 Tiger Trail. Student found in possession of a vape pen.
Thursday, 4:31 p.m., field behind Pine Grove Apartments. Caller reported seeing a stopped van and three adults and a child in the field. Officers responded. The child had apparently jumped from the van and the three adults were trying to get the child to return.
Thursday, 5:33 p.m., Washington Park, 710 S. Mulberry St. Report of teenagers vaping in the park. Officer responded and wrote a juvenile a citation for possession of a vape pen.
Friday, 6:23 p.m., Rent-A-Center, 2205 N. Main St. Burglar alarm. Officers responded. Alarm accidentally triggered.
Thursday, 6:37 p.m., Welches All Vehicle Repair, 127 S. Main St. Burglar alarm. Officers responded. Alarm accidentally tripped by an employee.
Thursday, 7:33 p.m., residence in the 500 block of West Central Avenue. Caller reported her son was riding his bicycle just after getting home from school and was hit by a gray van. He wasn’t hurt but his bike was wrecked.
Thursday, 7:45 p.m., First Presbyterian Church, 215 E. Dustman Rd. Report of a black Jeep circling the parking lot at an unsafe speed and then went back into a fenced-in area marked no trespassing. Officer responded, but whoever it was had left.
Friday, 8:26 a.m., Lancaster Street at Bond Street. Officer pulled over a vehicle and arrested the driver, Chit Too, 18, Fort Wayne, on one count of operating a motor vehicle while never having been issued a driver’s license, a Class C misdemeanor. Too was released on his own recognizance.
Friday, 9:36 a.m., man came to the Bluffton Police Department to report that he purchased a vehicle from a girl he knew and the girl’s boyfriend came and took the vehicle.
Friday, 11:34 a.m., Main Street at Market Street. Caller reported that the road construction signs were claiming the right lane was closed when in reality it was the left lane that was closed. It was causing a major traffic backup. Officer spoke with the construction foreman who agreed to change the sign.
Friday, 11:36 a.m., Handi Spot convenience store, 616 W. Lancaster St. Report of a 24-year-old man down on the floor shaking. Bluffton Fire Department first responders, Wells County EMS and officers dispatched.
Friday, 1:30 p.m., 20/20 Custom Molded Plastics, 810 Snider Dr. Semi stuck in the gravel on the east side of the building.
County:
Thursday, 5:12 p.m., sheriff’s deputy met with a county woman at the Bluffton Police Department to discuss several checks for large sums of money that she had been receiving from some man she didn’t know from Tennessee. The checks had absolutely no explanation accompanying them explaining what they were for or why she was receiving them from the man. She suspected a scam.
ACCIDENTS
City:
Thursday, 1:15 p.m., Carol D. Creek, 75, rural Bluffton, was driving a 2014 Ford Escape on Spring when she crossed the center line, then over corrected and crossed back over striking a curb and a trash can. Damage estimated at less than $1,000.
Thursday, 3:22 p.m., Main Street near Charles Deam Court. Dean Engle, 75, Bluffton, was driving a 2017 Wells County Council on Aging Wells on Wheels Dodge Grand Caravan north on Main Street. He stopped at the Wabash central Railroad crossing as he is required to do when driving a transit van. The van was then hit from behind by a 2004 Chevrolet Cavalier driven by Amber Swanson, 25, Roanoke. Damage exceeded $2,500.
Thursday, 3:53 p.m., Division Road at Eastmoor Drive. A 2008 Pontiac Grand Prix driven by Jenny A. Real, 38, Bluffton, was hit from behind by a 2001 Cadillac DeVille driven by Darin A. Reinhard, 17, rural Bluffton. Damage exceeded $2,500.
Thursday, 4:16 p.m., Bluffton Middle School parking lot. Michael Herman, 68, rural Bluffton, backed a 2007 Dodge Ram pickup truck into a 2014 Chrysler Town and Country driven by Rhonda Dillman, 58, Ossian. Damage exceeded $2,500.
Thursday, 5:20 p.m., Main Street at Cherry Street. Dacia R. Irelan, 30, rural Liberty Center, was driving 2018 Ford Fusion eastbound on one-way westbound-only Cherry Street. She came to a stop as Lindsay E. Schroeder, 34, Bluffton, was making a left turn from Main Street onto Cherry Street. The ensuing collision caused more than $2,500 damage.
Friday, 10:42 a.m., Main Street at the intersection of the main drives into Walmart to the west and Lowe’s Home Improvement to the east. A 2014 GMC Terrain driven by Karl J. Goede, 67, rural Ossian, was hit from behind by a 2002 Chrysler PTC driven by Trae D. Lane, 28, Bluffton. Lane had tried to swerve to the right at the last minute but was too late and the driver’s side of his car scraped all down the right rear corner of the Goede Terrain. Damage exceeded $1,000.
County:
Thursday, 3:51 p.m., Ind. 1 between U.S. 224 and 700N. Tristan Bauermeister, 19, rural Bluffton, was driving a 2014 Chevrolet Cruze north approaching a line of stopped traffic. Bauermeister failed to get stopped in time and hit a northbound 2017 Ford Focus, driven by Corey Wilson, 29, Ossian, from behind, shoving it into the back of a 2001 Dodge Dakota pickup truck driven by Dennis Bullock, 62, Ossian, which in turn was pushed into the back of a 2000 GMC Sierra pickup truck driven by James Sander, 68, Ossian. Damage exceeded $25,000. Ossian Fire Rescue and Wells County EMS were dispatched to the scene however the accident report did not list anyone as being injured.
Thursday, 8:09 p.m., U.S. 224. Brandi Cruz, 40, Decatur, hit a deer with her 2008 Chrysler Town & Country. Damage to the van exceeded $2,500.
Thursday, 8:51 p.m., Ind. 1. Brianne Daugherty, 23, Ossian, hit a deer with her 2022 Chevrolet Blazer. Damage to the sport utility vehicle exceeded $5,000.
FIRE RUNS
Thursday, 9:31 p.m., caller reported being able to see a possible structure fire off of 500W north of 100N. Markle and Liberty Township Fire Department dispatched. Turned out to be a trash/brush fire. The pile was allowed to burn.
ARRESTS
Par Ra Tee, 25, Fort Wayne; operating a motor vehicle whole never having been issued a driver’s license, a Class C misdemeanor. Released on his own recognizance.
Earl Wilson Quinn, 51, Bluffton; invasion of privacy, a Class A misdemeanor. Bond set at $25,000.
