A Crown Point woman suffered a traumatic brain injury after her boyfriend — who’s been charged with operating while intoxicated, among other charges — fled the scene after losing control of his motorcycle and crashing into a parked car in April.
Jack Randall Stickle, 58, was also charged with felony leaving the scene of an accident, causing serious bodily injury while operating while intoxicated; leaving the scene of an accident with moderate or serious bodily injury as well as two misdemeanor OWI charges and one misdemeanor charge of leaving the scene of an accident, a probable cause affidavit filed January 10 said. Stickle appeared in front of Lake County Magistrate Monday and posted a $4,000 bond, records said.
A witness told Lake County police he and his wife were in their backyard when they heard a loud crash that came from the front, court records said. The witness went to his front yard and saw a motorcycle lying on top of a woman next to his car while a man was picking up motorcycle parts.
“Stickle seemed more concerned about picking up the parts to his motorcycle than getting medical aid for (the victim), who was injured,” court records said.
The witness told police he and his wife were able to get the bike off the woman and into their house, but Stickle left on it without saying anything, court records said. He returned about 10 minutes later in a vehicle, at which point witnesses called 911 because the woman had a massive head injury that appeared to be “getting worse,” according to the affidavit.
Stickle tried to get the woman in the vehicle, court records said, but the witness stalled them until police arrived.
After telling detectives he didn’t know why they were there, Stickle admitted he and the woman were coming home from dinner on the bike when he ran into a car in the 6900 block of 86th Place, and then he left on the bike and came back with his own vehicle, records said. He agreed to take multiple sobriety tests and failed them; a portable breath test showed his blood alcohol content level was 0.15% — almost double the legal limit.
The victim, meanwhile, couldn’t immediately talk to police because of the extent of her injuries but eventually told them she and Stickle were at a restaurant earlier that night and that Stickle had been drinking alcohol, but she didn’t know how much. She said she remembers Stickle dropping the bike around U.S. 30 and U.S. 41 and her hitting her head, and that she tried to call someone to pick her up but can’t remember anything after that, according to the affidavit.
Hospital records said the woman suffered a traumatic brain injury, bruises to her knee, lower leg and shoulders and lost consciousness, the affidavit said.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.