The Tribune Staff Reports
Officers with the Jennings County Sheriff’s Department arrested a Jefferson County man Tuesday as the result of a lengthy investigation into a fatal hit-and-run crash that claimed the life of a North Vernon man.
The death of Davon Lee Shine, 24, was reported at 4:38 a.m. Sept. 16, 2018, after he was hit by a vehicle on U.S. 50 near County Road 700W in Jennings County.
The vehicle that struck Shine left the scene and was not there when police arrived, according to a report from Sgt. Stephen Wheeles, public information officer for the Indiana State Police Versailles Post.
Jennings County detectives, assisted by Indiana State Police crash reconstructionists, found evidence leading them to believe that Shine had been struck by a Toyota truck or sport utility vehicle, Wheeles said.
After police released that information, a tip was given that a possible suspect vehicle, belonging to Richard D. White, 55, was at his residence in Jefferson County, Wheeles said.
The vehicle was located, and investigators obtained a search warrant to seize the vehicle and evidence linking White and the vehicle to the crash, police said.
White was arrested Tuesday on a warrant for leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, a Level 5 felony. He was booked into the Jennings County Jail and later released on a $1,000 bond.
