Police investigate crash: victim identified, OWI suspect arrested, power lines fixed

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY — The St. Joseph County Police Department released the identity of the man who died from a rollover crash west of U.S. 31 on June 20.

Police said they were dispatched to Indiana 2 and Pine Road around 11:45 p.m. Thursday on a report of a verbal altercation between two drivers involved in a traffic accident.

Upon arrival, they found only one driver on the scene, identified as Rene Hernandez-Ramirez, who told police the second driver had fled, heading north on Pine Road, according to a press release Friday afternoon. As officers were talking to Hernandez-Ramirez, dispatch called out a single vehicle rollover crash involving a gray SUV, occurring a mile and a half north of Indiana 2 on Pine Road, just south of Edison Road.

The SUV driver, 27-year-old Justus Taylor O’Hara of South Bend, was found unconscious and pinned under his upside-down vehicle. Police reported that fire and medical personnel conducted life-saving measures, but he was later pronounced dead on scene by medical personnel.

County police reported that officers on the first scene noticed Hernandez-Ramirez was showing signs of intoxication and administered a portable breathalyzer test. Hernandez-Ramirez, 33, of Goshen, was arrested on scene on suspicion of Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated, a level A misdemeanor, and transported to the St. Joseph County Jail.

The St. Joseph County Police Department Traffic Investigation Unit continues the investigation. Police said in a press release, that "speed and intoxication are preliminarily believed to be factors in the fatal rollover crash."

The crash caused damage to two wood utility poles and AEP power lines, but police reported those repairs are complete.

Email Tribune staff writer Camille Sarabia at csarabia@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Police name 27-year-old dead from rollover crash