Police

Two Cass County residents were involved in an accident Wednesday morning in Pokagon Township. Cass County Sheriff Richard Behnke said 55-year-old Dowagiac resident Donald Fazi was driving north on M-51 when his vehicle crashed into the back of a car driven by Elizabeth Ecker, 28, of Niles. Ecker had stopped her car to turn left onto Indian Lake Road, authorities …

A 53-year-old Elkhart man died over the weekend after he was struck by a car in Cass County’s Pokagon Township. Sheriff Richard Behnke said deputies were called Sunday to M-51, near Pokagon Highway, in response to a subject in the roadway. Moments later, the sheriff’s department was advised that the man had been hit by a vehicle. The victim, Howard …

Cass County Sheriff’s Department responded Monday morning to a single-vehicle fatal crash in Penn Township. Deputies responded at 10:44 a.m. to Decatur Road, near Shurte Street, where a vehicle driven by 34 year-old Russell Jett, Jr. of Kalamazoo had struck a tree. Investigators said the Jett’s vehicle traveled across both lanes of traffic and struck a tree on the opposite …

Police say a 4-year-old boy has died after being wounded in a shooting that left his estranged parents dead. Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety Assistant Chief Vernon Coakley said the shooting Thursday morning outside a home killed Julina G. Gibson and Nicholas A. Mitchell. Coakley told the Kalamazoo Gazette the boy, Nicholas J. Mitchell, died later Thursday at a hospital. …

A southwestern Michigan woman and her ex-boyfriend both have been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the deaths of her two young children in an apartment fire nearly 25 years ago. Krysta McFadden and Clint Dunning were sentenced Thursday after being found guilty of two counts each of first-degree murder in the Nov. 29, 1992, deaths of McFadden’s …

Cass County Sheriff Richard Behnke said the county’s 9-1-1 call center now has the ability to receive emergency texts to the three-digit emergency number from anywhere in the county. Behnke said voice calls to 9-1-1 are preferred, as voice calls allow dispatchers the ability to locate from where a call is being placed. But the text option will suffice in …

A 26-year-old Jones woman was arrested Wednesday following a joint investigation by the Cass County Drug Enforcement Team and agents from the Michigan Department of Corrections Parole/Probation Division. The arrest took place at a residence in the 61000 block of South Main Street, where investigators responded to a tip about drug use and firearms in the residence. A search of the …

Equipment failure on a garbage truck resulted in a crash and subsequent injury of its driver Wednesday in Cass County’s Penn Township. Sheriff Richard Behnke said deputies were called at 9:30 a.m. to M-60, west of Calvin Center Road. Investigators found that the garbage truck lost control and left the roadway, overturning in a shoulder embankment. The driver, Jason McGaughey, …

A motorist responsible for the death of a 46-year-old Sturgis man in a traffic crash earlier this year has been sentenced to prison. St. Joseph County Circuit Court Judge Paul Stutesman sentenced Paul Michael Middling, 36, of Three Rivers to 20-to-60 years in prison. Middling was driving when his car struck a van driven by Miguel Medina May 4 near …

A chainsaw and a Honda portable generator were reported stolen last week from a barn in Nottawa Township. State police troopers were called Saturday to the 50000 block of Rambadt Road, where someone entered a barn between Oct. 30 and Saturday morning through an unlocked door. Investigators said the suspect loaded both items into a small, pull-behind wagon and left …