Two airlifted after one-car accident

Friday, May 26, 2006

Editor

Police were unsure of the identities of a man and woman injured in a single-car accident Friday morning on Ind. 240 near CR 750 East.

But as of presstime at noon Friday, Sgt. Don Pettit of the Putnam County Sheriff's Dept. was crediting bystanders with rescuing the couple from the burning auto.

The accident occurred around 7:30 a.m. when witnesses said the driver tried to pass another eastbound vehicle on the left. The car went off the road for an unknown reason, Pettit said, and traveled in the ditch for 370-400 feet before hitting a culvert on the north side of the road.

The 1994 Pontiac Bonneville caught fire, and the flames were coming into the passenger compartment when witnesses pulled the couple from the auto.

Pettit said the car was engulfed when he and Sgt. Tom Helmer arrived at the scene. The driver was unconscious and the female passenger was semi-conscious.

Both were airlifted via LifeLine helicopter to Methodist Hospital.

Sgt. Pettit said an accident reconstructionist from the Indiana State Police was called to the scene to assist in the investigation. Due to the lack of skid and yaw marks on the road however, Pettit said it was unclear if speed was a factor in the accident.

Assisting Pettit at the scene were officers from the sheriff's department, Greencastle police and fire departments, Fillmore fire department, and Indiana State Police.

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