Warsaw Woman Arrested After Injuring Victim With Her Vehicle
WARSAW — A Warsaw woman was recently arrested after witnesses claim she intentionally struck a victim with her vehicle. The victim suffered a dislocated hip, broken leg and several lacerations.
Billie Jo Frantz, 33, 413 S. High St,. Warsaw, is being charged with battery while armed with a deadly weapon, a level 5 felony, and leaving the scene of a personal injury accident, a class A misdemeanor.
On Sunday, Sept. 24, an officer with the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department responded to a call regarding a vehicle striking a person. When the officer arrived onscene, he observed the female victim with a large laceration on her left thigh. The victim was attended to by EMS personnel.
A male witness stated he observed Frantz drive her SUV into his garage. Frantz’s vehicle hit the victim, pinning her against another vehicle in the garage. An additional female witness was in the garage but avoided being hit. The male witness told the officer that he believed Frantz, who is his ex-girlfriend, drove the vehicle into the garage because he was hanging out with a female.
After the accident, Frantz drove away from the scene without saying anything. Later that evening, she turned herself in at the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department. Frantz stated she pulled into the driveway too fast and her brakes didn’t work properly. According to Frantz, she left the scene because she was afraid of what someone might do to her.
The officer then spoke with Frantz’s brother. He had used his sister’s SUV to bring her to the Sheriff’s Department. According to him, the brakes on the vehicle were working properly. He also stated that shortly before the accident, his sister stated she was going to the house where the incident occurred “to have words with and probably fight” the victim.
Frantz’s SUV was impounded as evidence. It had a broken grill and bumper. The vehicle also had a piece of flesh and blood on the right front side.
The victim’s injuries were treated at Fort Wayne Lutheran Hospital. She suffered from a dislocated right hip, broken left leg, large laceration on the left leg and many smaller lacerations.
Frantz was since bonded out of the Kosciusko County Jail.