A Lapaz man was arrested by Starke County police after his passenger suffered injuries in a single moped accident in the Koontz Lake area last night.
According to police, Donald Kissinger was traveling along County Road 1200 East on his moped and he told police that he swerved to miss a deer and lost control of the moped causing the passenger, Teresa Clark, to fall off the moped. When she fell off, she struck her head on the roadway. She was transported to Walkerton High School where a med flight took her to Memorial Hospital in South Bend where she remains in critical condition with a head injury.
Kissinger reportedly told police that they had just left her grandmother’s house where he consumed alcohol. He refused all tests, but did agree to a blood draw for a blood alcohol content test. A search warrant for this was obtained and the blood draw was conducted. He reportedly told police that he just got out of prison for a charge of Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated and he had lost his driver’s license for life.
Kissinger was arrested on a preliminary charge of Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated Causing Serious Bodily Injury. He was also booked for an outstanding warrant through Starke County for Battery.
