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.

The Seymour Department of Public Works has announced the locations for Christmas tree drop off. The drop off areas will be sectioned off with orange snow fencing and will remain open until Friday, January 19th at the following locations:

Brown Elementary
Emerson Elementary
Redding Elementary
Jackson Elementary
Seymour Middle School
Seymour High School
6th Grade Center

The Columbus City Council will be taking a mulligan on the second reading to approve the transfer of $10 million to INDOT for the overpass project taking traffic into downtown over the railroad tracks at State Road 11 and Jonathan Moore Pike.

Mary Ferdon, the city’s director of administration, calls the measure, scheduled for Tuesday night, a “formality.” She explains that because of the type of non-reverting fund created for this money, it was originally believed the appropriation did not need to be advertised. However, city officials realized the appropriation should have been advertised. Ferdon notes that the ordinance appropriating the funds did not change.

City Council meets Tuesday night at 6 p.m. at City Hall.

The Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications has issued a Public Admonition of Decatur Circuit Court Judge Timothy B. Day. Judge Day for his actions in response to incidents in October of 2014 and December of 2015. The seven-member Commission investigates alleged ethical misconduct by judges.

The admonition says that both incidents involved the judge, his estranged wife and guns. In the first incident, the pair were separated but still spent time together. Judge Day went to the apartment complex of the man that his wife had been seeing after she denied being romantically involved with the man and suggested that her husband meet him. In the parking lot of the apartment complex, Day and his wife got into a heated argument, which led to her calling a Indiana State Police Trooper that she knew, informing him that her husband had a shotgun. When the trooper arrived, he secured the shotgun and spoke with both parties. The wife later refused to speak to law enforcement and retracted her earlier statements. Judge Day told investigators that he always kept a loaded shotgun in his pickup truck. A special prosecutor declined to file charges.

In the second incident, Day and his wife were still separated and divorce proceedings were underway. Day’s wife and 16-year-old daughter came to his home so the girl could prepare to go out with friends. The pair were discussing a possible reconciliation when the judge received text messages from a woman he was dating. The investigation revealed that the judge’s wife became jealous, grabbed his phone and threw it out on to the driveway. Their daughter retrieved the phone for her father. As she took it to her father, she found her parents playing “tug-of-war” with a rifle. Judge Day says that he was putting the gun in a closet to keep it away from his wife. He told investigators that the rifle had a sentimental value to him and that his wife knew that. He said he feared she would take it. The pair quit fighting over the gun when their daughter got involved.

The Commission says that at no time during, or immediately after the December 29, 2015 incident did Judge Day call the police or inform the Commission that another incident involving a gun had occurred. The Commission believes that, “considering the totality of circumstances of these two incidents, which occurred less than fourteen months apart, Judge Day made several missteps which escalated the conduct and led to more police involvement. By engaging in this conduct, the judge violated his ethical duty to act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary and to avoid the appearance of impropriety, as required by Rule 1.2 of the Code of Judicial Conduct.”

This Admonition concludes the Commission’s investigation, and Judge Day will not formally be charged with ethical misconduct.

The opioid epidemic has touched many facets of the community. While police and prosecutors have to deal with much of the collateral damage, another government agency does as well… the coroner’s office. Clayton Nolting is the Bartholomew County Coroner. He explains that in 2015, there were six overdose deaths. In 2016, there were 12.

Nolting appeared before the county council a few weeks ago to request additional funds for his department to deal with this increase. He explains more about why his office needed additional funding to get through the rest of the year.

Nolting talks about what he’s learned about the overdose deaths that his office have investigated.

Nolting’s request for additional funds was approved by the county council. He expects overdose deaths will continue to rise, but holds out hope that the much-discussed community plan to tackle the epidemic will produce results.

A seven-year-old was hurt in a two-vehicle crash Friday morning near County Road 550 South and Jonesville Road in Bartholomew County. Authorities say that shortly after 5 a.m., Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Deputies were dispatched to the scene where they found two vehicles that had been involved in a head on collision. The child was originally thought to have “significant” head injures and was transported directly to Riley Hospital for Children. The driver of the vehicle was taken to Columbus Regional Health for a consensual blood draw due to injuries from the crash. Other individuals involved in the collision were checked by EMS for injuries.

Authorities say that later in the morning, contact was made with the father of the injured child. It was then learned that seven-year-old had no major medical issues, besides glass in the forehead. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

North Vernon Police are investigating an attempted robbery at a convenience store in the 500 block of West Walnut Street. Sgt. Andrew Richmond, department spokesman, says that officers were call to the Country Mark Gas Station at 9:49 p.m. on Thursday. He says that the initial investigation revealed that an employee was outside cleaning windows when he was approached from behind by a masked assailant and struck with an object. A scuffle ensued, which ended in the suspect fleeing the area in a red car that was parked in the rear of the store. Richmond says the attendant suffered minor injuries in the attack.

Police say they were able to recover the suspect’s mask, as well as a flashlight. If you have any tips or information about this incident, you are urged to call North Vernon Police at (812) 346-2345.

The children and families of the Boys & Girls Club at Foundation For Youth welcomed Santa Clause on Thursday for the “Breakfast with Santa” event. Brittany Gray, FFY spokeswoman, says that Santa brought help along in the form of elves from NTN Driveshaft, a Cornerstone Partner of Foundation For Youth. After breakfast, she says the kids were able to visit with Santa before receiving a gift to celebrate the holiday.

“This is the first time we’ve organized Breakfast with Santa and we are excited about how much fun it was for the kids,” said Nathan Larrison, Boys & Girls Club Director. “The help from NTN employees made everything run smoothly. We hope to make this an annual event.”

Centra customers who’ve utilized certain ATMs are encouraged to keep an eye on their accounts. The credit union says that on December 17th, a skimmer was found on the ATM at 2165 Jonathan Moore Pike in Columbus. Centra employees also discovered a glue-like substance on the card reader at our ATM located at 11700 North U.S. 31, in Edinburgh. One week prior, Centra employees found evidence of ATM skimmers on three Centra ATM locations, with one ATM skimmer device recovered. The impacted locations were:

•2125 Veterans Parkway in Jeffersonville
•3010 State Street in Columbus
•651 Hamburg Way in Sellersburg

Centra says that they are reviewing security footage and collecting information to determine what, if any, impact this skimmer may have had on members. In addition, the credit union says that it has identified members who may have been impacted.

Anyone who has used these machines recently should closely monitor their account and immediately report fraudulent charges.

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Department says it is investigating a fatal crash that took place Tuesday afternoon. Authorities say they were called to State Road 37 at Smith Valley Road in Greenwood at approximately 1 p.m. They arrived to find that a car had collided with a semi.

The initial investigation revealed that the driver of the car was westbound Smith Valley Road at State Road 37 when the driver ran a red light, striking the semi-tractor trailer that was northbound on State Road 37. The driver of the car, 83-year-old Allan C. Johnson, of Martinsville, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities say the crash closed northbound State Road 37 at Smith Valley Road for a couple of hours.