Driver, two others airlifted after West Walnut Street accident

Front-end damage shows the extent to which the 2008 Ford F-350 made impact with a large tree in a one-vehicle accident along West Walnut Street Road Saturday night.

Courtesy photo

A serious one-vehicle accident Saturday evening near the entrance to the DePauw University Nature Park, just west of Greencastle on County Road 125 South (West Walnut Street Road), sent four persons to the hospital.

The 2008 Ford F-350 extended cab pickup truck involved in that 8:54 p.m. accident was reportedly occupied by four persons and two dogs.

As of Monday evening, authorities were still not releasing the names of those involved as the investigation continues.

Two medical helicopters were called to the accident scene to transport the female driver and a rear-seat passenger after they were extricated by Greencastle firefighters.

The victims necessitating helicopters both sustained life-threatening injuries, Sgt. Kyle Gibbons told the Banner Graphic. The driver was still being listed in critical condition as of Sunday night, he said.

Meanwhile, two other passengers in the truck suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Sgt. Gibbons said, and were taken via ambulance to Putnam County Hospital, where it was later decided that a third victim needed to be flown to an Indianapolis hospital because of a painful pelvic injury.

The accident occurred as the eastbound truck reportedly left the roadway on the south side of West Walnut, west of the nature park entrance.

Sgt. Gibbons said markings in the grass indicated the truck went off the road for approximately 50 yards before making almost head-on impact with a large tree.

Other markings indicated the driver tried to maneuver the truck back onto the pavement but could not clear the elevated edge of the concrete.

Gibbons said the truck actually clipped another tree before striking the larger tree virtually head-on.

“They actually hit two trees,” he said, suggesting that the first impact “slowed the truck down and might have saved all of their lives.”

“We had people who heard the accident and came outside,” the deputy said, “and we had people who observed the accident, so it’s pretty cut-and-dried at this point how it happened.”

Two dogs in the truck were unharmed in the accident and have been returned to their owners.