BEDFORD — A Bedford teenager faces multiple criminal charges after allegedly wrecking his vehicle into a ditch, falsely blaming a deer, and registering a breath alcohol content more than double the legal driving limit early Thursday morning.
Isaac Jahn, 19, of Bedford, was arrested by the Bedford Police Department on May 28, 2026. He faces preliminary misdemeanor charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated (OWI) and illegal consumption of alcohol by a minor.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed by Bedford Police Officer Taylor Daugherty, emergency personnel were dispatched to a single-vehicle accident on Tunnelton Road near Whites Point at approximately 2:20 a.m.
Upon arrival, Officer Daugherty located Jahn standing in the middle of the roadway. Nearby, a gray 2010 Mazda 3S sat heavily damaged off the side of the road with all of its airbags deployed.
Jahn told responding officers that he had been driving eastbound on Tunnelton Road when a deer suddenly bounded across the pavement from the west into his lane of travel. Jahn claimed he swerved to avoid striking the animal, causing him to lose control and run off the asphalt. However, Officer Daugherty noted in her report that the vehicle traveled a “significant distance” off the roadway before finally crashing to a halt.
While listening to Jahn explain the crash, Officer Daugherty detected a strong odor of alcohol on the teenager’s breath and person. Jahn also exhibited slurred speech and glossy eyes.
When asked directly how much alcohol he had consumed, Jahn insisted he had not been drinking. Citing the physical indicators, Officer Daugherty requested that Jahn submit to a portable breath test at the scene, which the teen refused.
Jahn was placed in handcuffs and detained in the rear of a patrol unit, where he was read his Miranda warnings and the Indiana Implied Consent law. Jahn again refused to cooperate, denying a certified chemical test. Because of the sheer severity of the collision, officers bypassed standard field sobriety tests at the scene out of caution.
Jahn was transported to the Bedford Police Department while officers drafted a blood draw search warrant application. A Lawrence County Judge reviewed and signed the warrant at 3:14 a.m.
Officers then escorted Jahn to the IU Health Bedford Hospital emergency room, where the judicial warrant was executed at 3:50 a.m., and the sample was sent to the Indiana Department of Toxicology for formal analysis.
Following the medical procedure, Jahn was transported to the Lawrence County Jail for booking. While being processed at the jail facility, Jahn finally submitted to a breath test, which yielded a positive breath alcohol concentration of 0.179%; well over the adult legal driving limit of 0.08%, and significantly past the state’s zero-tolerance threshold for drivers under the age of 21.
Jahn’s heavily damaged Mazda was inventoried by police and towed from the crash site. Jail logs note that smoking devices found within Jahn’s personal property were confiscated by officers to be destroyed.
All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. This article is based on the information provided in the probable cause affidavit and does not represent a final determination of guilt or innocence.
