A South Bend man was killed in a rollover crash Thursday night, just minutes after he crashed into another driver. Coincidentally, police said both men were intoxicated.
Shortly before midnight Thursday, St. Joseph County police responded to reports of an argument between two drivers who’d been in an accident at State Road 2 and Pine Road. Officers arrived to find 33-year-old Rene Hernandez Ramirez of Goshen. He told police the other driver left the scene in a gray SUV.
Police ultimately arrested Hernandez Ramirez on suspicion of operating a vehicle while intoxicated. But as the officer was still talking with him, a police radio dispatch went out for a single vehicle rollover crash involving a gray SUV, a mile and a half north of State Road 2 on Pine Road, just south of Edison Road.
Police arrived to find the SUV on its roof. Its driver, 27-year-old Justus Taylor O’Hara of South Bend, was unconscious and pinned under the vehicle. O’Hara was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they believe he also was intoxicated.
O'Hara damaged two utility poles and power lines, police said.
