Court needs Punjabi translator for Middletown hospital carjacking case

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

A Warren County grand jury indicted a Middletown man on Friday accused of stealing a car with two children in the back seat at Atrium Medical Center last month.

However, Wednesday’s scheduled arraignment in Warren County Common Pleas Court of Dalvir Singh, 24, of Trinity Place, was continued until a person who can translate Punjabi is located to assist him in court. Punjabi is a native language spoken mainly in northwestern India and eastern Pakistan.

MORE: Case of Middletown man accused of stealing car with kids inside, dragging grandmother going to grand jury

Singh was to be arraigned on two counts of kidnapping, a first-degree felony; and one count of robbery, a second-degree felony.

A Warren County grand jury indicted Dalvir Singh, of Middletown, on several charges including kidnapping after he took a car at Atrium Medical Center on April 25 with two children inside. He appeared for video arraignment in front of Magistrate W. Andrew Hasselbach Wednesday, May 29 in Warren County Common Pleas Court but it was continued until they obtain an interpreter who speaks Punjabi, Singh’s native language. NICK GRAHAM/STAFF

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He is currently being held on a $250,000 bond in the Warren County Jail.

On April 25, Singh allegedly entered the car in which Chance Blue and his sister, Skylar Weaver, sat in the backseat. Their grandmother, Nita Coburn, 69, of Middletown, had gotten out of the car to help their aunt into the hospital’s emergency room.

The incident received wide attention last week because the grandmother was dragged by the car as she tried to save the children, and the 8-year-old boy helped his 10-year-old sister escape the moving car.

MORE: Man tells police ‘my mistake’ after allegedly stealing car with 2 children inside

Singh acknowledged he knew there were two children in the car and that he resisted the grandmother’s attempts to open the car door before taking off at a high rate of speed out of the parking area near the Atrium Medical Center parking lot, according to a Middletown police report.

Chance initially thought the man might have been a valet at the hospital because he got into the front seat of the running car. After the children escaped from the car, Singh took off in the car but was quickly apprehended by two Middletown patrol officers.

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Middletown police Chief Rodney Muterspaw called Chance “a hero” for his quick actions that saved himself and his sister from the attempted carjacking.

“This little guy is a hero,” Muterspaw said. “No question. He pulled his sister out of the car with no concern for his own safety.”

VIDEO: Girl escapes carjacking by jumping from moving vehicle

Both children were recognized May 15 by state Sens. William Coley, R-Liberty Twp. and Steve Wilson, R-Maineville, in the Ohio Senate chambers at the Statehouse in Columbus.

“Heroes come in all sizes,” Coley said as the children were recognized in the Ohio Senate chambers at the Statehouse in Columbus.

MORE: ‘Heroes come in all sizes’: Middletown boy honored for saving sister from moving car

Coley said he was also proud of the quick action by Middletown police in arresting the suspect.

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