Indiana Accident News

The accidents, events, injuries, and lawsuits taking place in Indiana today could help you learn more about your own personal injury case. In this section of our website, we cover the state's legal news, accidnt news, and injury news to keep our readers informed and up to date.

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Car Accidents

• Bloomington Police Struggle to Enforce New Texting Law
  Jan 31, 2012

  Although most traffic safety advocates agree that text messaging while behind the wheel should be illegal, Indiana police say that the new law banning texting while driving is virtually impossible to enforce as it stands.
  
  Six months ago, the state of Indiana banned texting while driving in a new law. However, half a year after the law went into effect, Bloomington Police say they haven’t issued a single ticket for the offense – and not because of a lack of trying. The law states that police may only pull over drivers if they observe the drivers texting, but that the officer may not take the cell phone from the driver to confirm that he or she had been texting or receiving a text.
  
  About 100 drivers across Indiana have been issued tickets or warnings related to texting while driving in the last six months. Each year, about 2,000 serious Indiana car accidents and injuries involve a distracted driver.
  
  This issue comes at the same time that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued a recommendation to the 50 states to ban all mobile phone use while driving except in the case of an emergency. A ban on all hands-free devices while driving would be easier to enforce, though Indiana officials say that that law, too, may pose new problems, such as what exactly constitutes an emergency.
  

• Illinois Sued after Fatal Accident Involving State Vehicle
  Jan 29, 2012

  After a fatal traffic accident in a parking lot in 2011, the legal guardian of the accident victim has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a number of parties, including the driver who allegedly caused the accident, the owner of the vehicle involved in the accident, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and the state of Illinois.
  
  Last spring, 27-year-old Derek Posey of Morris, Illinois was participating in community service work at Stratton Park when he and two other workers, Steven Fronzeak and Richard Brockman, decided to take a break in the bucket of an Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) tractor. While they were breaking from work, a car driven by 20-year-old Eduardo Lopez sped through the parking lot and struck the construction tractor.
  
  All three men fell out of the tractor bucket. Posey fell in between the tractor and an Illinois-owed pickup truck. When Lopez then struck the pickup truck, Posey was killed.
  
  As the investigation unfolded, authorities found that Lopez was under the influence of illegal drugs, including meth.
  
  Posey’s legal guardian, Lana Spencer, is suing Lopez and the owner of the vehicle that Lopez was driving, stating that Lopez intentionally caused the fatal Illinois parking lot accident. She is also suing the IDNR and Illinois, claiming negligence.
  
  The Illinois traffic accident attorneys at Keller & Keller send their condolences to the loved ones of Derek Posey as they navigate their lawsuit.
  

• Two Killed in Wreck on Old Lyons Road in Greene County, Indiana
  Jan 29, 2012

  Two people were killed in a head-on collision at the intersection of County Road 200 South and County Road 1025 West outside of Lyons, Indiana, on January 3, prompting many local officials to question the possibility that the speed limit on the road is too high.
  
  According to Greene County Daily World, 23-year-old James Allen was driving a car east on Country Road 200 South (Old Lyons Road) with three passengers: his wife, Ashley Bailey-Allen, and his two daughters, four-year-old Katelynn and one-year-old Aubrey. An approaching vehicle, driven by 45-year-old Susan Olson of Jasonville, suddenly veered out of the lane, striking the oncoming car head on and killing both drivers.
  
  The two drivers were pronounced dead at the scene of the fatal Indiana car accident, while Ashley was rushed to IU Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis with serious multiple injuries. The two young children were rushed by ambulance to Riley Hospital for Children, also in Indianapolis. All three are expected to survive the crash but face long recoveries.
  
  The cause of the Greene County crash is still under investigation as authorities await the results of toxicity tests conducted on both drivers.
  
  The Indianapolis personal injury attorneys at Keller & Keller send their heartfelt condolences to the accident victims in this case as well as to their family and friends.
  

• Illinois Woman Dies in Alleged Drunk Driving Accident in Mattoon
  Dec 31, 2011

  A Mattoon woman was killed in a two-vehicle accident in Coles County, Illinois, this week that police believe involved drugs and alcohol. The man who allegedly caused the crash was days from beginning a six-year prison term.
   
  According to local news reports and the Illinois State Police, 28-year-old Devin Daily was on a week-long furlough before starting a multiple-year jail sentence for burglary at the time of the accident, which took place on Saturday night at just after 10 p.m. Daily has been charged with failing to stop at a stop sign, driving while under the influence of drugs and alcohol, driving with a revoked license, failure to avoid an accident by reducing speed, failure to wear a seatbelt, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of drugs.
   
  After Daily ran the stop sign, his vehicle slammed into a car driven by 65-year-old Shirley Graham of Mattoon. She was killed in the Illinois car accident. Daily was injured in the car wreck and taken to Carle Hospital by ambulance for treatment. Days after the crash, He was transferred to Coles County Jail.
   
  Coles County Assistant State's Attorney Rob Scales told reports that he will always regret his decision to release Devin Daily before he started his jail sentence.
   
  The Illinois car accident attorneys at Keller & Keller send their condolences to the family, friends, and loved ones of Shirley Graham.
  

• Indiana Trooper, Good Samaritan Save I-65 Car Accident Victim
  Nov 28, 2011

  Indiana State Police and emergency responders are reporting that a State Trooper and a passing, off-duty nurse are responsible for saving a man's life following a car accident on Interstate 65 in Lake County last weekend.

  According to the Chesterton Tribune, 39-year-old Paul Eger of Demotte was driving home just after 2:30 a.m. on Saturday morning when he drifted out of his lane and sideswiped a tractor-trailer near the Lowell exit. After hitting the semi truck, Eger crossed the median, struck a barrier, and finally left the road. His vehicle rolled over, and Eger was seriously injured.

  Two other drivers on I-65, a registered nurse and an on-duty Indiana State Trooper, pulled over when they saw the accident and discovered that Eger had severed an artery in his wrist and was bleeding heavily. The pair quickly applied pressure to the wound and then fashioned a makeshift tourniquet for the man.

  When EMS arrived, the Indiana car accident victim was rushed to Saint Anthony's Hospital in Crown Point, where doctors and authories praised the work of the trooper and Good Samaritan. Eger, who was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash is expected to recover. The man had alcohol in his bloodstream at the time of the accident and will be charged with drunk driving.

• Boy Crashes Pickup into Car During Farm Work in Central Indiana
  Nov 26, 2011

  A Madison County man will likely face charges after allowing a young relative to drive a pickup truck and lying to police about who was driving. The boy, who was helping his father's cousin with farm work, crashed into a sedan and injured two people.

  According to the Chicago Tribune, a 12-year-old Anderson boy was behind the wheel of a pickup truck and trailing a relative driving a grain truck when he turned into the path of a car carrying a grandmother and her grandchildren. The driver of the car, 65-year-old Tonya Lucas, and her 10-year-old granddaughter Isabella Krompack both suffered injuries in the crash.

  Because the driver of the grain truck, Brian Conrad of Anderson, initially lied to police about who was driving the pickup truck, he will likely face charges of false information, criminal recklessness, neglect, and allowing an unauthorized person to drive his car. The boy, who was shaken by the crash, will not face charges in relation to the Indiana vehicle accident.
  
  Many rural Indiana farmers allow children without valid driver's licenses to operate vehicles and farm machinery, especially during the harvest. Conrad told police that children had often driven between fields in his family farm - but that the practice would stop.

• Seven Killed, Four Injured in Indiana Toll Road Semi-Truck Accident
  Nov 23, 2011

  Seven people were killed in a two-vehicle accident on the Indiana Toll Road in Elkhart County at the end of October, while four more suffered serious injuries that required hospitalization.

  According to Indiana news sources, three different, related Ecuadorian families from Chicago were traveling to a funeral across the country in a minivan when they struck a deer on the Toll Road between Bristol and Middlebury. The driver of the van slowed the vehicle in the right lane of the highway, where it was struck by an 18-wheeler going over 60 miles per hour.

  Of the ten people traveling in the van, seven were killed and three were injured. None of the passengers were wearing seatbelts. Among the dead was an infant who police say was restrained in a baby carrier - but that the car seat was not buckled into the car. Of the three surviving van passengers, one has been upgraded to good condition, one is in stable condition, and the third remains in critical condition and is in a coma.

  The driver of the tractor-trailer, 24-year-old Jesse Donovan, was transported to Elkhart General Hospital with injuries but has since been released. Drugs and alcohol were not factors in the accident.

  The semi-truck accident attorneys at Keller & Keller send their deepest condolences to those involved in the crash and to the people who love them.

• Speed Factor in Posey County Pickup Truck Accident, Injured Three
  Oct 31, 2011

  One person was seriously injured, and two others suffered non-life-threatening injuries in an Indiana pickup truck accident on the edge of Posey County.

  According to local news sources and the Indiana State Police, 19-year-old Jason Wagler of Loogootee was driving a pickup truck on Highway 65 near Interstate 64 with three passengers in the vehicle when he lost control. The truck veered off of the right side of the road, struck unlevel ground, and rolled. Three out of the four occupants were thrown from the vehicle and partially pinned to the ground by the truck.

  An initial investigation by Indiana State Police has found that speed was the main factor in the pickup truck crash and caused the teen driver to fail to negotiate a curve in the roadway. None of the four people in the cab of the truck were wearing their seatbelts.

  Three out of four people were injured in the accident: 42-year-old Norman Wagler of Loogootee was rushed to the hospital by ambulance with life-threatening injuries, while Jason Wagler and 22-year-old Stanley Knepp, also of Loogootee, were transported to the hospital for treatment. The fourth passenger was not injured. The traffic accident is still under investigation.

  The Indiana personal injury attorneys at Keller & Keller wish all of the accident victims a quick and full recovery.

• Allegedly Drunk, Wrong-way Driver Arrested on I-70 in Terre Haute
  Oct 30, 2011

  A wrong-way driver was arrested early on Thursday morning, charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, and driving the wrong way on a one-way street. The arrest came after an accident on Interstate 70.

  According to the Tribune-Star, 26-year-old Derek Tarrh of Terre Haute was traveling west in the eastbound lanes of I-70 outside of Terre Haute in the early morning hours of October 20. A flatbed tractor-trailer driver, 46-year-old Rick Probst of Illinois, was driving east when he saw the approaching wrong-way driver and attempted to change lanes to avoid a head-on accident. However, Tarrh crashed into the rear wheel of the truck as he passed.

  When Indiana State Police arrived, they recorded visible signs of intoxication and booked Tarrh at Vigo County Jail. Neither driver was seriously injured in the Indiana I-70 wrong way accident. Police are investigating when and how Tarrh came to be driving on the wrong side of the interstate.

  Indiana State Police reminded drivers on all roads that they should call 911 immediately if they see someone driving the wrong way on a highway or interstate. The most common causes of wrong-way interstate driving are drunk driving or confusing and poor road design.

• SUV Rollover Accident on I-80 in Indiana Kills One, Injures One
  Oct 18, 2011

  Two women were ejected from a sport utility vehicle during a rollover accident on Interstate 80 in Lake Station, Indiana, this week. One person was killed while the other was critically injured.

  According to the Chicago Tribune, the Indiana car accident took place just after noon when witnesses to the one-vehicle wreck say that the SUV drifted left out of its lane, overcorrected to the right, and then rolled several times. One woman, 37-year-old Alicia Todd of Brookfield, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident by a medical professional, while a 45-year-old Berwyn woman was taken by medical helicopter to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, suffering from multiple serious injuries.

  To add to the tragedy, an Indiana State Trooper responding to the fatal car accident was also involved in a crash. As the motorcycle police officer exited onto Ripley, a car in front of him pulled out in front of the bike and caused the collision. The officer, who has been on the police force for 25 years, suffered back injuries, neck injuries, and wrist injuries but is expected to recover. He was wearing a helmet and protective gear.

  The Indianapolis traffic accident attorneys at Keller & Keller send their condolences to those affected by these two crashes and wish our state trooper a quick and complete recovery.

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