Driver, passenger airlifted from Sunday-morning crash

A Seymour man and a Coatesville woman were injured early Sunday morning when the Honda Civic in which they were traveling made heavy passenger-side impact with a utility pole.

Courtesy photo

Two people were airlifted to Indianapolis following a single vehicle crash that snapped a utility pole early Sunday morning.

Adam W. Rucker, 25, Seymour, was alert enough to desribe his crash to Putnam County sheriff’s deputies, but both Rucker and his passenger, 23-year-old Ashley D. Boyd of Coatesville, were treated at the scene by PMH Ambulance before being taken from the scene by helicopter.

Rucker told Deputy Robert Soilleux that around 3:30 a.m. he was eastbound on State Road 240 when he looked down at his cell phone/GPS and drove off the roadway.

The car was traveling through Chadd Valley, approaching a curve to the left. Soilleux and Sgt. Riley Houghton observed no brake marks on the roadway.

Based on tire marks in the grass, Soilleux believed Rucker’s 2013 Honda Civic simply missed the corner and left the south side of the road and entered the ditch. The car then clipped a road sign and spun sideways before hitting the electrical pole with the passenger side door.

The impact broke the pole, which landed on the hood of the car.

Upon Soilleux’s arrival, both Rucker and Boyd had freed themselves from the vehicle and were lying on the ground beside the driver side door.

Rucker smelled of alcohol and told Soilleux he had drank two beers but thought he could drive because he had waited before driving. A drug and alcohol test was administrered, but results were pending as of Monday.

Additionally, Rucker said he had not been wearing a seat belt, but Boyd had been wearing hers.