No deaths in Joseph Johnston’s alleged traffic rampage, Illinois to Indiana, Friday 04.16.10
Raymond Joseph Johnston's Posey County mugshot, snapped Friday, April 16.
WHITE/POSEY COs.—A New Haven man is currently (04.19.10) behind bars in Posey County, Indiana after what can only be called a driving rampage out of his home town, wherein he crossed the river and traveled into Indiana on highway 141 at a high rate of speed, leaving wrecked and/or damaged vehicles in his wake…but, miraculously, no deaths.
Johnston, 31, is a registered sex offender living in New Haven (which sits in both White and Gallatin counties); there, local residents term him “dangerous” to the small river town where his driving habits are concerned.
While Disclosure has not yet received Gallatin County reports, it’s been indicated by several Gallatin-side New Haven residents that at some point in time Friday, Johnston created a disturbance at the home of a woman (whose name will be withheld for now) who went to her boyfriend’s brother’s house (these names will also be withheld for now), frantic and claiming that Johnston had tried to rape her. The boyfriend’s brother reportedly dialed 911 because Johnston was reportedly actually at this house raising hell. At that point, Johnston reportedly ran over to the American Legion, where he was told to leave because of his behavior. The Legion also reportedly called for law enforcement, although it’s unclear if they dialed 911 or called directly to Gallatin County sheriff’s department.
Witnesses report that Johnston, driving a white 1993 Dodge Intrepid, rear-ended a vehicle on the Illinois side of the Wabash River toll bridge on 141. The vehicle, a Volvo, which White County police reports show was being driven by Nina W. Buckman, 64, was traveling at about 55 mph, but when she was struck by Johnston’s vehicle, reportedly traveling at about 100 mph, Buckman’s left the roadway and traveled down the embankment on the north side of 141. Then at the bottom, it flipped end-over-end according to accident reports, coming to rest rightside up in the field. Buckman’s airbag deployed, and she was only slightly injured. Emergency crews had already been dispatched thanks to callers with cell phones.
A witness to the incident, Michael J. Schneider, told White County deputy George Spencer and Sheriff Doug Maier that Johnston’s vehicle passed him at possibly 100 mph and before striking Buckman’s Volvo, he had been swerving from the north guardrail to the south guardrail. Then when the accident happened, and traffic stopped, Schneider got out and approached Johnston’s car.
Johnston was sitting in the middle of the roadway. Schneider asked him if he were injured; in response, Johnston told Schneider his name and that he had been drinking and had been released earlier in the day from the Posey County Jail following a DUI arrest the previous night (Thursday).
Maier told Disclosure that at that point in time, sirens could be heard approaching from rescue vehicles, which must have spooked Johnston: He got back in his vehicle and, as Schneider watched, drove on toward the toll bridge. Schneider told officers Johnston didn’t appear ‘highly intoxicated’ but he was uncertain as to whether Johnston had been injured. An oncoming witness told Disclosure this morning that the Dodge’s front bumper was dragging the ground and smoke was coming from the car.
From there, White County reports indicate Johnston’s vehicle had struck the toll booth on the Indiana side as he passed it. Reports indicate he also sideswiped a vehicle and kept going, possibly striking two other vehicles before becoming involved in ANOTHER major accident about three to four miles into Indiana.
Disclosure has spoken to Posey County Deputy William Denning this afternoon, who has confirmed that there have been NO deaths attributed to Johnston.
“There were only actually two injuries on the Indiana side,” Denning said, “which is miraculous given everything that happened.”
Denning will be providing incident reports as he can, but not until tomorrow, after he speaks with Jodi Uebelhack, Posey’s prosecutor. Incidentally, Uebelhack’s brother happened to be in one of the vehicles struck in the multiple accident rampage, so Posey County’s got to bring in a special prosecutor from Vanderburgh to handle Johnston’s prosecution.
Maier was unaware of any 911 calls about a woman being raped or sexually assaulted in any way; he did note that Illinois State Police had responded to New Haven prior to the wreck of a call that Johnston had been harassing a woman and driving erratically in New Haven. Calls to Illinois State Police earlier this morning revealed that they didn’t work the accident on the Illinois side, but nothing was said about previous complaints.
Indiana State Police assisted Posey County, and Johnston was arrested and charged with DUI; Indiana State Police haven’t returned our calls yet. Any further Posey charges, along with his bond, will be learned tomorrow, but as of now he’s sitting in jail. Illinois (White County) will be charging Johnston with leaving the scene of an accident with injury.
There’s no indication of what this incident will do to Johnston’s sex offender status. Generally, sex offenders are supposed to stay out of trouble. His conviction came in so many years ago, however, that it’s unknown how it will be handled. As well, there’s some confusion about his sex offense (abducting a person under the age of 16 by luring into a vehicle). ISP’s sex offender website lists it as having occurred in Gallatin; yet there’s a report on it on judici being a White Co. offense. We’re unfortunately stuck if it’s a White Co. case, as Scott Webb won’t let us see the files on sex offenses there, so we may never know any details. If it’s GallCo, however, we will be able to bring the information to you in the print version, on stands May 12.
Short URL: http://www.disclosurenewsonline.com/?p=2915
Posted by Chris Beavers
on Apr 19 2010. Filed under Gallatin, Indiana, White.
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Some people are only alive simply because it is against the law to kill them.
THAT is a FACT.
One can only hope justice will be served when lessons are never learned.
The man needs to be institutionalized. He’s psychotic; it’s more than your typical drunk-driving accident.
I would say other charges will include, no valid drivers license and no insurance.
And Dennis, you are so correct.
No they will probably just drop most of it and just slap him on the hand again. He needs to be sent to some sort of rehab and mental hospital. Then some major jail time to think on what he has done. Maybe we should just get different police force. Ones that aren’t paid for the wrong reasons. But actually do the right things for the right reasons. Like respond to all the 911 calls and investigate them to the fullest. She didn’t ask for any of this, I’m sure. Now it seems likewhat happened to her is going to be forgotten since these wrecks. Don’t get me wrong i am sorry for the other people involved, but didn’t this start with this girl being harassed and then some? What about her? If they would have took care of that first, none of this would have happened. Do you even think he will even get charged for that now?
“Maier was unaware of any 911 calls about a woman being raped or sexually assaulted in any way; he did note that Illinois State Police had responded to New Haven prior to the wreck of a call that Johnston had been harassing a woman and driving erratically in New Haven.”
When he said prior, did that mean prior on the day of the wrecks, or a few days prior?
Hopefully not the same day. If ISP had responded earlier that day, wouldn’t something have been done about him driving drunk in New Haven? Wouldn’t the fact he had allegedly tried to rape someone keep him from leaving town?
Or maybe it played out like it usually does:
1. Joseph rips through the streets like a maniac.
2. Cops are called. Joseph disappears. (I’m starting to think he has an underground shelter somewhere.)
3. Cops come, but don’t feel like looking for him or waiting on him to come out. They leave.
4. Joseph comes out of hiding. Repeat steps 1-4.
@galco:
He meant the day of the wreck. I’m sorry if that wasn’t clear.
I haven’t heard from ISP except that Ang talked to Zimmerman today. They reported NOTHING about a possible assault, and Ang asked him point-blank.
Indiana may break it off in his ass!
Anything on why the Gal.Co. Sheriffs Dept. didn’t respond? Not answering 911 calls happens all to often down there.Changes need to be made now before this or worse happens.
No. By the time Ang called over there Shannon had gone home for the day. We’re going to try again in the morning.
inb4 every inbred eejit that knows this waste of air and space make their way here to paint this fuck as mr. congeniality in the name the next saint pageant.
i really, really hope for the sake of everyone in the new haven area that carries around a vagina that this asshole is arrested for the alleged attempted rape.
Just driving around, and guess what I see. Shawneetown and Gallatin COunty officers tag teaming someone. Maybe we can run them out of Shawneetown and they will patrol New Haven so this doesnt happen again.
I just heard it Stop the Corruption.The County Loves to Patrol Shawneetown and Ridgeway and seems to care less about the rest of the County.Shawneetown and Ridgway are not all of the Voters in the County.I for one am thinking of changeing my vote in Nov. to another Party.
stop the corruption/topcat- you mean GC law enforcement was actually doing something tonight??
I do know they made a traffic stop as i heard it on the scanner.They mostly talk on cell phones so the Public can’t hear what they say.They don’t think the Public needs to know what is going on.I think it’s because they don’t want the Public know how little they do.
Perhaps New Haven needs to hire a police officer of their own. But rest assured, if they hire one that does what you seem to want done (as in..their job..enforcing laws), most of the town would complain at that as well. But, if the citizenry wants law enforcement, get together, create a petition for the creation of a police department, get TONS of signatures, and take it to the village board and mayor and show them exactly what the tax payers want. And when you do that, post on here and keep us updated and let us know if they decide to hire.
That is work that needs to be done Gingerbread-man!
Ridgway?hmm i see them in town here all the time. Do they have more than 1?
Current issue on stands right now tells how many officers Ridgway has on the roster…
Sorry, I meant more that 1 deputy. I was implying I didnt they ever left Shawneetown. I always see them around town.
should be I didnt think they ever left”’
It’ll be okay stopthecorruption.LOL! Most all of us makes mistakes and typeing errors.This is a forum not English Class.
Well ive come to the conclusion that if the local LE state and county dont want to arrest JOE because they cant afford his meds or cant afford his stay at a county jail, they need to send him to prison, that way everyone is clear of any expense. Not that the state of Illinois can afford it either.Bottom line the only person thats going to pay anything is US.
any word from Bradley yet on the incident? Still wondering why Sauls didn’t respond if he was the one on duty. someone needs to clean house of GC LE
Yeah Ang talked to him this morning. He was very enlightening about a lot of different things, but there wasn’t much he could add to the Johnston story.
We’ll probably have to get the rest of it for the print version, sorry to say. But keep checking back, you never know.
gingerbread man…New Haven has a population of about 250 people. The town doesn’t have much revenue so they can’t very well afford to pay a police officer. Besides, why should they have to, they pay taxes just like everybody else in the county and should be able to rely on the Gallatin County Police Dept! I don’t think anybody in New Haven minds that they don’t have a full time police officer, it’s just when they call one, they should come!!!!!
I agree with you idk.You may need one but where would the money come from.I don’t know of any grant money for it anymore.You may have someone check on that anyway if you can.But you pay taxes and New Haven is within the Gallatin County area so you should get equal protection and more time spent there by the County.
Top Cat, there is a COPS grant which assists in paying a salary for small areas to employ law enforcement. Other small towns in the area seem to work things out, such as Cave-in-Rock and Elizabethtown in Hardin County as well as Golconda in Pope County. No one says it has to be a full-time cop gig. There are plenty of police officers in our area that are always looking for a few extra dollars here and there. I realize that New Haven is part of Gallatin County and that you all pay taxes to the county and should get equal policing, but it appears that with the current regime, thats not going to happen in a way to suffice to you the taxpayers. Also, I wasn’t trying to sound like a smart ass or like I was being sarcastic. If someone within the local New Haven government or anyone with any pull is interested in getting something done, I know that I personally would be more than happy to converse with someone in an effort to assist the village. I’m sure that doesn’t hold much salt for anyone on here, and especially because I’m not a Gallatin Countian, but the offer is there.
If nothing else, perhaps the village could maybe try something like Cave-in-Rock had, hire a police officer, give him X amount of hours per month to use (we’ll say 40) and leave it as his discretion to use any number of hours up to that 40 during the course of a month at his discretion. Just a suggestion…there are others out there as well. Good luck to the residents of New Haven. Hopefully one day your problem will start getting better before something very bad happens.
Thank you for all of the information Gingerbreadman.They should be jumping into your arms for the help you have offered and I thinnk it is very noble of you to want to help.
Hiring Cops so they can have a few extra bucks a good but if they could hire new people to,creating jobs, would also be great.
What kind of a Tax Bases does New Haven have?The Legion is the only business that I can think of.
No clue Top Cat, I had to google it to find out exactly where in Gallatin Co that New Haven was located for sure, seeing as I’ve never been there (hey, that makes me the perfect candidate right, since I don’t know who is too important to enforce the law on! haha). The problem with just flat out hiring “new” people is that police training is SO expensive, that for a small place with a small tax base, think of the other area towns, really almost have to rely on already certified cops if they’re looking to employ. Also, I want to note, I’m not implying in any way that I think the Sheriff’s Department is being lax in their jobs…The last I knew of their scheduling practices under Ray Ray, they weren’t the hottest IMO. Also, it’s hard for a guy to come in and shake things up as the guy who’s just in charge right now, not even with the title of Sheriff. But I don’t know any specifics, just an outsider who notices that there seems to be a lot of people that aren’t happy with their Law Enforcement, trying to help them find a fix for it, because the LE serves the people of their community.
There was once grants for the new hired Cops after they worked ,I think 6 months, and the City reaped the harvest.But that was several years ago an dthe grant money on many these has vaporized.
The grant which I spoke of in the earlier post, the COPS grant, if I’m not mistaken (which is also possible, believe it or not), was over a 3 year period of time. The first year, the grant paid the full salary of 1 police officer. The second year, the grant covered 1/2 of the salary, and the employer paid the other half, then the 3rd year, the grant again paid a little less than before and left the village to pay its own…or perhaps the 3rd year it was all up to the village, I’m not sure. Point being, they offered money to pay for law enforcement, but gave the municipality an avenue to gradually work into being able to afford a police officer instead of just saddling the town with an extra bill for x amount of dollars. There are also other avenues to explore, and I’ve offered to help if I can, now its up to someone else to take the next step and inquire.
Your offer is more than a fair one.I can see how it could work out if they can afford to pay at least a part.
I can’t explain it but most towns that down have a Cop don’t grow.People don’t want to start a business up without some kind of protection.
I forgot to say that is New Haven can afford to pay the Sheriffs Dept. to patrol its own County”LOL” then I think that money may go a long way to hire a Cop .With the Grant money paying for some time then the City could save or set back that amount of money to pay him/her when they have to pay full time.
I truly understand where both of you are coming from but!! New Haven has nothing to offer anyone! I can’t think of anybody that would want to live in New Haven and be a cop, they would have to hold another job because there is no way the town could afford a full time cop even with the help of the grant.The first year would be great but after that it would be tough. Also with the state in the financial state it’s in, I doubt there’s much help out there right now!
Top Cat: New Haven is one of the towns in Gallatin County that refused to pay GC Sheriff’s Dept. to patrol thier town. They pay taxes for that, there is no reason any town should have to pay the Sheriff’s Dept. to patrol their town!
The people in New Haven go out of town for work, groceries, gas and everything else they need. It would be very hard to get someone to move to New Haven to be a cop. Honestly, New Haven manages pretty good without one, except when people like Joseph gets on a rampage, but when the Sheriff’s Dept. is called they should respond no matter what or where it’s at!!!!!
idk, i totally understand where you’re coming from. Some things to think on…I’m personally familiar with quite a few cops who make MINIMUM WAGE. The key to having a cop work for lower wages, don’t require them to live in the municipal limits. Hire a cop from elsewhere, to work part time, in whichever manner the town chooses. Enact village ordinances adopting the Illinois Vehicle Code as village ordinance, so any traffic tickets written by the city cop, the fine money goes to the village, instead of the county. I’m not saying that any of it would be easy, but if anyone in the New Haven Government is interested, even the slightest bit, I’m more than willing to try to help out.
Auxiliary police! They work for free and there are always people willing to be cops. Apparently from what the “informed” are saying on this site, free cops couldn’t be any worse than the paid cops in GC. gingerbread-man, I have to know what cops will work part time for another dept. at minimum wage and do they know they can probably work at McDonalds part time and make more. Less of a headache I would think.
Grape Ape, auxilary police are very very limited as to what they can and can’t do. Basic law enforcement duties to replace a regular police officer aren’t part of their duties. As far as working for minimum wage, yes, McDonalds would probably be a lot less of a headache and have more/better benefits. But the guys who work cop jobs for minimum wage or slightly higher are guys who really want to do it.
I truely understand about why New Haven didn’t pay the Sheriffs Dept. to Patrol a town that is in the County.That is crazy and a waste of money.Why pay someone again for a job they are already hired to do?
I understand that Radars Bunch patrol Old Shawneetown for a fee.More crazy shit! I guess he learn that from Sheriff martin.Wonder what else he learn from him.Guess we’ll find out after Martins Trail.
actually, Top Cat, contracted patrols are nothing new in Illinois. If you do some research on Illinois Police Departments contracting with other LE agencies, I think you’ll be surprised at what you find. I’m not familiar with the specifics of Old and New Shawneetown…or if they’re infact one town or what, but if they’re two totally separate towns, then where’s the problem with them contracting with each other for regular LE services, besides the Emergency responses from the Sheriff’s Department. Its nothing unusual for one town to contract with a small neighboring town to assist them with their law enforcement duties, or to flat provide those services for them. However, I will agree that the Sheriff’s Department should be patrolling the towns without expecting a handout in return.
Gingerbread-man, I was joking about the Auxiliary Police. I would like to know, however, what police officers would work part time for minumum wage though. That is just crazy to have that much responsibility for minimum wage.
I am not trying to defend anyone, but lets say that when the sheriff’s department got the call to New Haven they were on a call in the south part of the county? Wouldn’t it be hard to be on two calls at once in two parts of the county?
Galloping County, you make a good point. But no matter how many deputies the Sheriff’s Department had, there is always the possibility of that happening.
Grape Ape, just two sparkling examples of what I stated, City of Rosiclare Police Department and Hardin County Sheriff’s Department part time officers.
gbm I agree but we all know that gallatin county doesn’t have that many resources to draw from. It aggitates me that people think that they are the only one on earth and that when they need someone they should have already been there before the call is placed. If New Haven wan’t someone to answer their every beckoning call then they need to get someone to do that if they can’t do that then I guess they will just have to do with what they have.
Did we ever get an answer to why GC LE didn’t respond?
Not yet. We’ll get it by print version.
I think that Gallatin County has only one man on at a time. I think they need two at all times but i also understand they have money woes like most everyone .The point I am making is agreeing that he could have been at the other end of the County, tied up on another case. But I also know that the County and many City Cops don’t answer 911 calls. They will get one says about a drunk driver, and they will tell the Saline County Dispatch that they recieved the 911 call and set in the Office and never go out to try to catch them. Later they may say that he may have turned off on another road or he got passed them.
Unbeliveable? Ask each one and Saline County Dispatch. More than one will tell the same story that I did.
Well, if the tax payers in Gallatin County are that dissatisfied with the customer service from their sheriff’s department and/or their respective law enforcement agencies, then the tax payers need to take steps to make some changes. I’ve offered my help the only way I can think of, just shy of suggesting that I would go to New Haven to work. However, small town law enforcement. Thats all I think needs said on that facet. Hopefully, one of these days, this fool that keeps stirring up the “trouble” will get caught and dealt with according to the law, not according to the board or jail staffs.
How would the Saline County Dispatch know if the Gallatin County Deputies stay in the office and refuse to handle 911 calls about drunk drivers? Don’t know about unbelievable, but I do find it pretty miraculous that dispatchers in another county can confirm that cops in Gallatin County don’t leave the office on 911 calls. Maybe they track them by GPS, eh?
Anyway, has it ever been confirmed that 911 was called in the first place? There were reports of 911 calls, then it was said that maybe 911 wasn’t called. There were reports of deaths, then it was confirmed there was no deaths. If eye witnesses and people supposedly involved can’t even report information accurately, should all reports coming in be treated as accurate information. Will we ever know what really happened?
Yes, you will know what really happened, because we have almost all the police reports. So far we have down-to-the-second reports from White and Posey. We will get 911 (which goes to ISP if from a cell phone; we’re not sure where a land line goes but it’s probably Saline Co.) next week. We’ll find out exactly where the initial 911 went, what was said and who was responsible.
They know Grape Ape.Ask them .One way they can tell is they can hear the background noise and know they are not in the squad looking for the suspects.Another way is people have scanners ,which the Cops hate and is why the use the Cell Phones more than radios,and know by seeing them stay at the Station .
GallopingCounty—You apparently don’t listen to scanners or not very up to date on how the police around this area work! If they were in the Southern part of the county and were busy, Eldorado would know that and they would have them to dispatch the state or in some cases they have sent a Ridgway cop to New Haven. If what your saying was to happen, I sure hope nobody in one town is being murdered while the cop is in another town handling a traffic ticket, because the way it sounds, the person being murdered don’t stand a chance. *Oh tell them to wait until I get this ticket written out and I’ll be on up there*?????? Sorry but I don’t fall for that one!
And…I don’t think anyone in New Haven thinks that the cops should be there before the call is placed!! but I do think they deserve police protection from Gallatin County the same as the other towns in Gallatin County and YES when they are called they should come or send someone else!!!!
New Haven is a pretty quiet little town and they don’t have the funds to hire a part-time or full-time cop and they really don’t need one! The cops usually only get called on the guy that just caused all this bullshit so NO New Haven doesn’t need to hire a cop. But I can bet if you were to need police protection and you made a call to the police and they didn’t show up, you would be pissed about it too. So in my opinion I think the people that made the 911 calls have the right to be upset over this.
Grape Ape…Saline County Dispatch should and would know what the Gallatin County Deputies do because that is where they are dispatched out of! Remember, not only is New Haven a poor town, but Gallatin County is also poor and don’t have their own dispatcher, so all calls made to Gallatin County go through Saline County!! And if 911 wasn’t called, there is another number that people of Gallatin County has been given that will get you the Saline County dispatcher and they in turn contact Gallatin County for you! So, it could be true that 911 wasn’t called and the calls were made directly to Saline County Dispatch!!!
Gallatin County dispatch is Eldorado and 911 is Saline County.
How would the Saline County Dispatch know if the Gallatin County Deputies stay in the office and refuse to handle 911 calls about drunk drivers? Don’t know about unbelievable, but I do find it pretty miraculous that dispatchers in another county can confirm that cops in Gallatin County don’t leave the office on 911 calls. Maybe they track them by GPS, eh?
Anyway, has it ever been confirmed that 911 was called in the first place? There were reports of 911 calls, then it was said that maybe 911 wasn’t called. There were reports of deaths, then it was confirmed there was no deaths. If eye witnesses and people supposedly involved can’t even report information accurately, should all reports coming in be treated as accurate information. Will we ever know what really happened?