The driver who struck a South Bend police officer on the U.S. 20 bypass was arrested on preliminary charges of Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated with a Prior Conviction and Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated Causing Bodily Injury.
That driver is identified as 36-year-old Andrew Mitchell of North Liberty.
The crash happened just before 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 3.
Police were dispatched to a crash involving two vehicles on the Bypass near Ironwood Drive. The caller originally indicated the crash occurred in the eastbound lanes but when Officer Terry Redden arrived in the eastbound lanes, he found the crash actually occurred in the westbound lanes. Redden then stepped over the center median to check on the occupants of the involved vehicles.
As Redden was standing near the rear door of one of the vehicles involved, Mitchell, who was traveling westbound, struck that vehicle, causing the already crashed vehicle to be pushed into Officer Redden, who was taken to the hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.
The St. Joseph County Fatal Crash Team was then activated to assist with SBPD’s investigation.
Mitchell was uninjured and cooperated with investigators. He’s being held at the St. Joseph County Jail pending a formal charging decision from the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s Office.
