PORTLAND, IN — A semi driver involved in a crash that killed four Jay County residents has been jailed on an ICE detainer.
Details of immigration-related allegations against 30-year-old Bekzhan Beishekeev were not available Thursday morning. He was held in the Jay County Jail before being transferred to another facility on a federal warrant.
An Indiana State Police news release listed Beishekeev as a resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
An ISP investigation continues into a crash on Tuesday, Feb. 3, that killed four members of the Amish community from the Bryant area.
According to state police, Beishekeev was driving a semi-tractor trailer eastbound on Indiana 67 near Jay County Road 550 East about 4 p.m. when another eastbound semi traveling in front of him — driven by Gert Pretorius, 44, of Geneva — “slowed down for traffic,” according to an ISP release.
The semi Beishekeev was driving swerved into the westbound lane and collided with a van driven by Donald Stipp, 55, of Portland.
Four passengers in the van — Bryant residents Henry Eicher, 50; Menno Eicher, 25; Paul Eicher, 19; and Simon Girod, 23 — were pronounced dead at the scene.
Stipp — who had reportedly been hired to transport an Amish work crew — was also seriously injured in the crash. He was being treated at a Fort Wayne hospital.
A GoFundMe account — https://gofund.me/afa5b9623 — has been established to help the Stipp family with related expenses.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Semi driver involved in fatal Jay County crash held on ICE detainer
Reporting by Douglas Walker, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
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