Police

A preliminary hearing set for Ethan Dingman, who is charged with the murder of 55-year-old Todd Schwartz of Colon, didn’t occur Tuesday as scheduled, according to John McDonough, St. Joseph County prosecutor. The case was adjourned and Dingman will be evaluated for competency to stand trial, McDonough said. That evaluation is to take place at Center for Forensic Psychiatry in …

A man who served 20 months in custody for a wrongful conviction is suing police. Ray McCann was repeatedly hounded by police during an investigation of a girl’s killing in St. Joseph County. McCann denied any role in the death of the 11-year-old girl but says he felt pressured to plead no contest to perjury. The conviction was thrown out …

A southwestern Michigan man has been sentenced to a year in jail for his 16-year-old son’s fatal drug overdose. Prosecutors accused Gary Birkhead of knowingly allowing his son to use illicit drugs over two years. He pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in November. Birkhead, a Bangor resident, has been in the Van Buren County jail for months and will have …

Authorities are seeking murder and other charges against a man they say shot three officers and killed a 22-year-old father after taking him hostage inside his home. Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller said there was no apparent connection between the jailed suspect and Christopher Neal. Neal was at his Comstock Township home Sunday night watching television with his wife and …

A 33-year-old police officer has been shot and wounded outside a home in Battle Creek. Battle Creek officer Jeffery Johnson was in stable condition at a hospital after being struck about 2:30 a.m. Saturday in the chest and left leg. A slug also grazed one of his wrists. Police say officers were on patrol when they heard yelling at the …

Classes resumed Monday without incident for Three Rivers High School students. The high school on Friday last week was placed into what district officails called a “soft lockdown” around 10 a.m. due to a school threat. Students at the high school were released for the day at 11:30 a.m. as a precaution. Superintendent Ron Moag said the district was able …

Century Bank and Trust in Three Rivers was robbed Monday, and a suspect has been arrested. Authorities said a man handed a teller a note, in which he demanded money. The man was wearing a blue sweatshirt, a dark Carhartt cap and blue jeans. The man was found following tips from the community.

An Elkhart man died in a single-vehicle crash last week in Cass County’s Porter Township. Sheriff Richard Behnke said deputies were called shortly before 4 p.m. Friday to an area on Bellows Road, near Idlewild Street. Chase Miller, age 28, was driving north on Bellows Road when his vehicle left the roadway and went into a pond. Miller’s body was …

Deputies from the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department last week arrested a man driving a stolen vehicle in Sherman Township. According to a department media release, deputies were called Thursday to a report of a man driving a stolen vehicle. They responded to an area near Banker Street and Shimmel Road and eventually found the vehicle in question. John Fox …

A Michigan man whose hobbies include ritualized combat with replica weapons from the Middle Ages says he wielded a battle ax he calls “my baby” to fend off an intruder. Thirty-six-year-old Ben Ball tells WOOD-TV he was playing video games at his apartment in Oshtemo Township late Wednesday when someone who once dated his ex-roommate kicked in his door. He …