Two people are injured, one of them seriously and a Hope man is behind bars after he allegedly carjacked a vehicle at Columbus Regional Health on Monday night. Lt. Matt Harris, spokesman for the Columbus Police Department, says that at approximately 7:40 p.m., officers were dispatched to the hospital in regards to a reported vehicle crash with injuries. The suspect, later identified as 27-year-old Kenneth W. Wentworth, allegedly fled on foot after the crash. When officers arrived, they reported seeing Wentworth and a family member of the carjacking victim in a physical struggle on 17th Street, just off the hospital grounds. Wentworth was taken into custody a short time later.

Harris says that investigators later determined that Wentworth allegedly entered the unoccupied driver’s seat of a minivan and attempted to flee the hospital parking lot. The vehicle’s owner, 56-year-old Lorrie A. Crouch, of Hope, partially entered the passenger side of her vehicle and struggle with the suspect. Police say that Wentworth put the vehicle in reverse and the passenger door struck Crouch’s mother, Sarah Smith, who was seated near the minivan in a wheelchair. Moments later, Wentworth allegedly accelerated the vehicle forward and struck a parked car. This caused Crouch to fall out of the minivan and strike her head on the parking lot. Harris says that Wentworth crashed the minivan into two additional vehicles before fleeing on foot.

Authorities say that Crouch sustained a head injury and was flown to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. Smith suffered lacerations to her left leg and hand and was treated at CRH.

Wentworth was arrested on preliminary charges of Robbery, Leaving the Scene of Crash Involving Injury, Auto Theft, and Battery. He remains in the Bartholomew County Jail on a 48 hour hold.

The investigation is ongoing.