Hope man faces neglect charges

Bartholomew County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a Hope man for child neglect and leaving the scene of a property-damage accident on County Road 525E north of State Road 7, near Elizabethtown.

Michael G. Furst, 33, 130 Midway Drive, Hope, is being held at the Bartholomew County Jail in lieu of $12,500 bond, jail officials said.

Deputies were sent to the vehicle accident about 1:22 p.m. Wednesday after witnesses said they saw an adult male had left the vehicle and was walking toward Ceraland with a small female child, according to a sheriff’s department a media release.

Deputy Andrew Dugan found the man, identified as Furst, and the girl near the Ceraland gym. Furst told the deputy he had been driving the vehicle and left the accident scene. Furst and his 2-year-old daughter were checked by emergency personnel and were not injured, according to the sheriff’s department.