Cemetery Property Damaged By Driver Playing Pokémon Go
Posted
Katie Wonderly-kwonderly@timesuniononline.com
Damage was caused at Oakwood Cemetery Thursday by a teenager playing Pokémon Go. Warsaw Police Department officer Miles Reichard responded to a property damage accident at Oakwood Cemetery, 421 N. Maple Ave., at 3:23 p.m. Thursday. Alexander Bergen, 16, Pikeview Drive, Warsaw, told police he was driving his Honda Odyssey passenger van inside of Oakwood Cemetery playing Pokémon Go, a cell phone game that uses an individual’s GPS to capture virtual creatures Bergen was traveling within a traffic circle, attempting to make a sharp right-hand turn. He advised that the front right wheel of the van hit a decorative wall, sopping the vehicle from the impact. Bergen told Reichard he tried to turn to the left and continued to go around the obstacle. Once around the barrier, Bergen realized the van was no longer in drivable condition. The front passenger-side tire of the van had fallen off its bead and the front passenger side tie-rod had sheared off. The van was towed due to the disabling damage. The total damage to the van was estimated at $1,000 to $2,500. There were scratches, gouges and a corner had chipped off of the decorative wall cornerstone that Bergen hit. Reichard spoke to Hal Heagy, Oakwood Cemetery sexton, who stated the damaged corner stone is a piece of limestone that had been installed around the early 1900s.
