Pickup Truck

A 35-year-old Shipshewana man driving east on S.R. 120, west of S.R. 5, struck the left rear of a buggy he tried to swerve around. The impact rolled the buggy on its side and the man’s pickup truck into a sign at Shipshewana Campground. Dustin Sailor was trapped in his pickup truck and was airlifted for treatment of head injuries. Thursday morning, Sailor is listed in good condition at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo. A LaGrange County Sheriff’s Department news release indicates Sailor crested a hill and encountered an eastbound buggy with six occupants driven by 34-year-old Lloyd Hershberger, also of Shipshewana.

PIERCETON — A traffic stop in Pierceton Friday night led to the arrest of two Kosciusko County residents. An officer pulled over a pickup truck near the intersection of Market and Fourth Streets in Pierceton around 10 p.m. During the traffic stop, the officer noted the distinctive odor of methamphetamine production coming from the rear of the vehicle. The officer found a mobile meth lab located in the tool box in the bed of the pickup truck. The driver, 24-year-old Darrell Hatcher of Pierceton, and 23-year-old passenger Elizibeth Ilene Likens of Warsaw were both preliminary arrested on meth charges.

One person is dead after a crash in Edwardsburg. It happened just after 11 Friday night on U.S. 12 east of Eagle Lake Road. Police say a pickup truck traveling east crossed the center line, hitting a semi. A third vehicle also hit the truck. The pickup burst into flames and the driver was ejected. That person died at the scene. Their name is being withheld pending family notification. Police say alcohol is believed to be a factor. They are still investigating the crash.

VALPARAISO, Ind. (AP) — A northwestern Indiana man has pleaded guilty to charges that he fatally shot his 32-year-old son while they argued inside a pickup truck. Sixty-nine-year-old James Blum of rural Valparaiso had faced murder charges in the August 2009 death of Aaron Blum. He occasionally cried during a Porter County court hearing Tuesday as he pleaded guilty to a reckless homicide charge. The Post-Tribune reports Aaron Blum had recently been arrested for drunken driving and that James Blum told police an argument broke out as they discussed the younger man's future.

A 4-year-old Buchanan girl who broke free from her mother and apparently stepped into the path of a pickup truck is in serious condition at Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health in Indianapolis. Late Wednesday night, a hospital spokesman said the girl was about to undergo surgery. Witnesses told Indiana State Police about 2:15 p.m. Wednesday, Madalynn Gembala was with her mother, Megan, in an area of the Indiana State Fairgrounds used for parking travel trailers and motor homes.

Police have not released the identity of the person killed early Saturday morning on Old U.S. 20, east of C.R. 1 in Elkhart. The person was driving a 1995 Toyota Corolla when, for an unknown reason, they drove off the south side of the road and struck a pickup truck parked in a driveway at 29468 Old U.S. 20 and then a tree. The Elkhart County Sheriff's Department crash report stated the Elkhart County Coroner will release the person's name after identification has been made.

The driver of a pickup truck that struck a grain truck near Shipshewana was airlifted in serious condition this morning. The crash happened about 10:30 a.m. at State Road 5 and County Road 200 South, just south of Shipshewana. The LaGrange County Sheriff's department says it appears a truck hauling grain to a feed mill was turning when it was struck by the pickup. The impact sliced off the driver's side of the pickup, causing a small fuel spill.

A Goshen man is dead after crashing his motorcycle into a pickup truck. Elkhart County police say shortly before 3 p.m. Thursday, 33-year-old Ronald G. Pegan II was driving a 2011 Harley Davidson V-Rod north on S.R. 15 when he tried to pass a turning vehicle. At the same time, a 34-year-old New Paris man, Christopher Kupeerus, was driving his 2004 Chevy Silverado Dually south on S.R. 15 began to turn onto C.R.146 and did not see the motorcycle. Pegan's cycle crashed into the passenger side of the truck.

The driver of a pickup truck lost control of the vehicle on a snow-covered Hennessey Road Wednesday afternoon in Watervliet. The driver, Rene Salinas Vela, 58, and a young child were critically injured when the truck struck a tree. Another passenger, Hermelinda Delapena Vela, 56, died at the scene. A Berrien County Sheriff’s Department news release indicated all truck occupants were from Hartford. Rene Vela and the child were taken to Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo.

A 59-year-old man was airlifted to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo late Saturday night after police found him unresponsive, partially lying in frigid creek water off 26th avenue in Bangor Township. The Van Buren County Sheriff’s Department was called to the 59000 block of 26th Avenue at 10:30 p.m. Saturday. There, deputies found the unresponsive man, near his pickup truck that had crashed into a ravine. The man was first treated at South Haven Community Hospital for head trauma and exposure to extreme cold temperatures and water.