A Leesburg man was left trapped and seriously injured in the back seat of a vehicular crash by the driver and front-seat passenger early Saturday morning south of Syracuse. Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Dept. Deputies and Syracuse emergency personnel responded at 12:23 a.m. Saturday to a single- vehicle crash on Ind. 13 near Southshore Drive. Officers arrived and located a passenger, Zachary R. Baugher, 22, of 41 EMS T-6 A Lane, Leesburg, trapped in the rear seat. Witnesses told police the driver and front-seat passenger fled the scene immediately after the crash. Syracuse Fire & EMS personnel freed Baugher, who was then airlifted to Parkview Memorial Hospital, Fort Wayne, in serious condition. Hours later deputies located the driver, Erich J. Wilhelmi, 28, of 4478 N. Sullivan Road, Leesburg, and the front seat passenger Karrissa R. Auer, 21, 9885 N. Happiness Drive, Syracuse. Wilhelmi was admitted into Kosciusko Community Hospital with a back injury. Auer was admitted into Lutheran Hospital, Fort Wayne, but has since been treated and released. Kosciusko County FACT crash investigators believe alcohol was involved in the incident and are awaiting legal blood alcohol test results, police said. Police are forwarding information from the crash investigation to the Kosciusko County Prosecutor’s Office for potential criminal charges.
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