MISHAWAKA--Police have arrested a South Bend man on a charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, causing death, in connection with a fatal crash Saturday morning on Lincoln Way East.

Shortly after 7 a.m., Derek Dygulski, 34, of the 4200 block of Irish Hills Drive, was driving his Chevy Cobalt west on Lincoln Way, near Oakside Avenue and Twin Branch Elementary School, when he veered across the centerline and struck an eastbound vehicle nearly head-on, said Mishawaka Police Capt. Tim Spencer.

The impact killed Carol Ragsdale, 60, a passenger in the other vehicle, a blue 1960 Corvair driven by her husband, Kenneth Ragsdale, 60. The Ragsdales, of the 1300 block of Providence Court in the Reverewood subdivision, had been on their way to an antique car show in Dowagiac, Spencer said.

Spencer said toxicology results, which will reveal Dygulski’s blood-alcohol content at the time of the crash, were not yet available. Spencer said a drug recognition expert from the metro Fatal Alcohol Crash Team found probable cause for Dygulski’s arrest while questioning him at Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center, but he declined to elaborate.

Dygulski initially told police he had no recollection of the crash or even having driven on the street, but later said he recalled driving east on Lincoln Way, which was incorrect, Spencer said.

Police had no information on what he had been doing before the crash, Spencer said.

Neither of the Ragsdales had been wearing seat belts because the Corvair did not have them, Spencer said. Dygulski was wearing a seat belt and his airbag deployed. He complained of chest pain but was treated and released from the hospital before being booked into the St. Joseph County Jail, where he was held without bond pending formal charges.

Mr. Ragsdale’s most severe injury was a broken femur.

Staff writer Jeff Parrott: jparrott@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6320