Police

A psychiatric evaluation has been ordered for Portage resident Zachary Patten. The 32-year-old Patten is accused of killing two people, one near Constantine and the other in Kalamazoo, on July 20. The evaluation is to be conducted at Center for Forensic Psychiatry in Grand Rapids. It was ordered by District Court Judge Jeff Middleton Tuesday at a preliminary conference. According …

A man charged in connection with two slayings in Michigan will undergo a competency examination. The Kalamazoo Gazette reports that a St. Joseph County judge on Tuesday ordered the psychiatric evaluation to determine whether 32-year-old Zachary Patten is competent to stand trial. His preliminary examination scheduled for next week has been postponed. Patten was charged last month in the July …

Constantine’s Farmers Market will have a special visitor today. One of the 50 Michigan State Police squad cars painted black and gold to commemorate the agency’s 100-year anniversary in 2017 will be at the market 3 to 5 p.m. Also during the same time span, the company Child Print will offer free ID kits. The kits allow parents to have …

The St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department has released the name of the motorcyclist killed last week in a Three Rivers traffic crash. Christopher Watson, 29, died after the motorcycle he was driving crashed into a semi tractor-trailer at Broadway and 8th Street. The incident occurred around 10 p.m. Thursday after Watson failed to stop for police for disobeying a traffic-control …

Two 18-year-old women were arrested over the weekend after police discovered they were in possession of stolen property. According to a media release from the Sturgis Police Department, officers pulled over a car at 4 a.m. Sunday in the 400 block of Marian Street after the department received a report of someone going through parked, unlocked vehicles. Officers noticed what …

Cass County deputies responded last week to a single-vehicle accident in Porter Township. Sheriff Richard Behnke said agency officials were called at 11 p.m. Saturday to Tharp Lake Road, north of Chapel Hill Road. The driver, 48-year-old Cassopolis resident Benjamin Burnham was driving north on Tharp Lake and lost control of his vehicle. The vehicle drove off the roadway and overturned …

WWMT television is reporting that a 6-year-old girl was sexually assaulted on a Colon Community Schools bus in April. The incidents allegedly involved a 15-year-old boy who is no longer a student at the district but still faces up to seven charges of sexual assault, the station reported. St. Joseph County Prosecutor John McDonough said charges of failure to report …

A pregnant Angus/Herford cow was stolen last month from a pasture in Flowerfield Township. The St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department issued a media release over the weekend, indicating the cow was taken July 10 from a location in the 11000 block of Floating Bridge Road. Because of the size and weight of the 1,300-pound cow, special equipment and a large …

The driver of a motorcycle operating at a high rate of speed died Thursday after failing to stop for police. According to the Three Rivers Police Department, officers noticed the motorcycle on South Main Street near West Michigan Avenue, where its driver failed to obey a traffic-control device. Officers pursued the motorcycle on South Main Street until it turned north …

A two-month investigation led to drug-related charges against four people this week. Members of the St. Joseph County Area Narcotics unit made the arrests late Tuesday following the execution of a search warrant at a residence in the 300 block of West West Street in Sturgis. Police said investigators discovered a considerable amount of heroin, methamphetamine and items used to …