Porter County Law and Order

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Updated: February 1, 2012 11:28PM

CHESTERTON

Man ill on way home from hospital

An Illinois man stopped breathing on the way home from St. Joseph’s hospital in Fort Wayne, where he had been seen for high blood pressure and chest pain, police said. At about 4:10 a.m. Wednesday, the brother of Oscar Engriquez, 49, of Wheeling, Ill., stopped for help at the Speedway at 502 Gateway Blvd. Police officers performed CPR and used an automated external defibrillator on Engriquez until EMS arrived and transported him to Porter hospital in Valparaiso.

Hit-and-run caused power outage

A power outage at about 3 p.m. Wednesday, in the area of the 700 block of Michael Drive, was caused by a large vehicle backing into a NIPSCO transformer box, pushing it off its concrete slab, police said. The vehicle fled the scene. NIPSCO informed police the entire unit would have to be replaced at a cost of $5,000 to $10,000.

PORTER COUNTY

Man brought heroin with him to jail

When Ross Berg, 24, of Hannah, arrived at about 3 p.m. Tuesday at the Porter County Sheriff’s Department, to turn himself in on an arrest warrant, he brought drugs with him, police said. Berg now faces two new felony charges of possession of a controlled substance, for having five pills of two different, prescription-only, narcotic painkillers; plus a third felony charge for possession of four small packets of heroin, according to police.

Plow taken off of stolen truck

A resident of the 500 block of Brummitt Park Drive called a manager at Boyd Asphalt, 306 N. County Road 400E, to report that a company vehicle was parked in the roadway. The still-running pickup, a white 2006 Ford F250, had been stolen from a gated parking lot but had not yet been discovered stolen before he got the call Tuesday morning. Residents found it around 4:30 a.m.

A snow plow and salt spreader were missing from the truck, and the thief hot-wired the vehicle in addition to doing other damage, according to the police report.

Family heirlooms missing from home

A home in the 600 block of Baums Bridge Road, north of Kouts, was reported broken into between Jan. 14 and Tuesday. A back door to the garage and the door between the garage and house both were pried open, according to the police report. Two wooden jewelry boxes, containing family heirlooms, were stolen.

Rewards possible for DUI patrols

Police who report drunken drivers Sunday night will be eligible for $50 awards if it results in an arrest. The annual Super Bowl night reward is funded by the Porter County Drunk Driving Task Force. The county’s Drunk Driving Task Force and the Indiana Governor’s Council on Impaired and Dangerous Driving will be sponsoring extra drunken driving patrols during and after the football game.

Man accused of punching woman

Gregory Nance, 40, of rural Portage, was arrested for felony domestic battery in the presence of a child, for an alleged incident at about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at his home, in the 200 block of Sunlite Court. A 43-year-old woman told police Nance punched her in the side of the head and tried to hold her down as she scratched and kicked to get away. He denied the argument turned physical until after he was arrested, then he accused the woman of battering him, police said. Both had minor but visible injuries.

VALPARAISO

Minor told to leave bar causes ruckus

A 20-year-old man was asked to leave Pepe’s Mexican Restaurant, 1058 Indiana 2, at about 2:10 a.m. Tuesday for throwing drinks. The bouncer told police that as the man left, he jumped on a car’s hood, denting it, so the bouncer chased him through the parking lot where the man, later identified as Cole Gridley, 20, of Valparaiso, smashed a window of another vehicle. Gridley was bleeding from his ear when police arrived, possibly from a wound suffered when he broke the window.

Gridley was treated by medics then arrested for multiple misdemeanors: criminal mischief, public intoxication, underage drinking and being a minor in a tavern.

Officers graduate from academy

Four Valparaiso police officers — Joe Hall, Todd Kobitz, Jarame Simpson and Robert Fisher — graduated recently from the Police Executive Leadership Academy. The Valparaiso Police Department has had more than 20 officers graduate from this selective program, which the city has hosted this academy for the past two years.