Mo-ped Driver Dead from Chain-Reaction Crash Downtown
Posted
Aaron Organ-aorgan@timesuniononline.com
A Warsaw man was killed Saturday after his stopped mo-ped was rear-ended by a sedan that had been itself rear-ended in downtown Warsaw.
Warsaw police and medics were called around 5:45 p.m. to the intersection of Detroit and Center streets, where a man had been thrown from his mo-ped and into the windshield of a vehicle following a chain-reaction traffic collision.
Responders arrived to find 61-year-old James W. “Billy” Beigh, of 519 W. Winona Ave., Warsaw, in the roadway suffering from extensive head injuries as a result of the crash. Beigh was taken to Kosciusko Community Hospital, then airlifted to Fort Wayne’s Parkview Hospital in critical condition.
He died of his injuries just before 9:30 p.m., the Allen County Coroner’s Office said.
According to the Kosciusko County Fatal Alcohol Crash Team, Beigh’s Honda Metropolitan mo-ped was stopped on Center Street for a red light, with a silver Toyota Corolla, driven by Roger E. Middleton, 79, of 1603 Dot St., Warsaw, stopped behind him, when a maroon Nissan Pathfinder, driven by Kerri Ann Cox, 34, of 2708 William Drive, Winona Lake, barreled into the rear-end of Middleton’s sedan as the light turned green. The impact pushed the sedan into the mo-ped, flinging Beigh into the car’s windshield.
Beigh was not wearing a helmet.
Investigators said Cox did not brake before the collision.
Cox was arrested and booked into Kosciusko County Jail on a possession of marijuana charge after police found the drug in her car. Police are awaiting results of a state-mandated blood draw to determine if she had any trace of the drug in her system at the time of the crash.
After the FACT’s investigation is completed, police said the case will be forwarded to the Kosciusko County Prosecutor’s Office for review.
