Zachary Eugene Amburgey

SOUTH WHITLEY — Zachary Eugene Amburgey, 23, 907 N. Sycamore St., North Manchester, is being charged with battery causing serious bodily injury, a level 5 felony; aggressive driving a class A misdemeanor and failure to stop after an accident a class A misdemeanor.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, on June 21, a Kosciusko County Police officer responded to an automobile accident where the subjects involved were fighting.

The officer spoke with one driver, who had a bump on his forehead and an abrasion on his face. The other driver had left the scene. The man reported he was driving and approaching a horse-drawn wagon with children that began making a right turn. The wagon covered the entire southbound lane. The man saw a black vehicle approaching at a high rate of speed. He pulled his vehicle over toward the center line, stuck his arm out the window and waved in an attempt to stop or slow the vehicle.

The man told the officer the black vehicle pulled up next to his vehicle and the driver began screaming at him and flipping him off, then passed him.

At the next intersection, the driver of the black vehicle pulled over and let him drive by, but then pulled in behind him. The black vehicle then passed him again and then hit his brakes. The man was unable to avoid hitting the black vehicle in the rear.

The driver exited the black vehicle and ran toward the man and began screaming and wanting to fight. The man ran from the driver, who chased after him. When he caught up, the driver of the black vehicle punched the man in the head. The man fell to the ground and the other driver began kicking him. The man reported that his 7-year-old daughter was screaming to call the police. The other driver got back into the black vehicle and drove away.

A witness to the incident told the officer that a man had jumped out of his black vehicle and chased the other man around his yard, while the man being chased kept saying he would not fight. The witness collaborated the other man’s story saying the driver of the black vehicle began punching the man in the face and head and when he fell to the ground began kicking him before driving off.

The witness gave the officer the license plate number of the black vehicle and found the it belonged to the driver’s girlfriend. Officers found out the woman’s boyfriend was Amburgey and that he drove a black, Pontiac Grand Prix.

The officer obtained a photo of Amburgery and created a six person photo array to show the man and he identified Amburgey as the person who battered him.

Amburgey is being held on a $10,250 security and cash bond.