Greencastle woman injured in accident

Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Emergency response personnel work quickly to remove one of two victims of a head-on collision involving two pickup trucks Tuesday evening just east of Wal-Mart on U.S. 40. Both drivers were airlifted to hospitals in Indianapolis.

BRAZIL -- A sleepy Greencastle driver led to a two vehicle head-on collision Tuesday evening just east of Wal-Mart on U.S. 40 that caused both drivers to be airlifted to hospitals in Indianapolis.

Around 5:18 p.m., deputies Jason Frazier, James Switzer and Homer Knopp were dispatched to the scene of the accident near 715 E. U.S. 40, just east of Tower Road.

Switzer said Betty K. Nodley, 77, Greencastle, admitted she fell asleep while driving westbound on

U.S. 40. She was en route to a Clay County car dealership to deliver a black pickup truck. She was transported by Trans-Care to St. Vincent Clay Hospital for treatment to stabilize her condition before being airlifted to an Indianapolis hospital.

"The driver said she heard a loud boom and woke up to find herself in an accident," Switzer said.

Apparently, once Nodley fell asleep at the wheel, the black pickup crossed the center line and crashed into the front driver's side of a silver pickup truck traveling eastbound.

After impact, Nodley's vehicle slid on its side about 55 feet before catapulting into a flip/roll before stopping almost 100 feet from impact.

Members of the Brazil City Police Department slowed traffic while members of Clay County Search and Rescue and Van Buren Township Volunteer Fire Department used an extraction device to remove Mark W. Abney Sr., 53, Brazil, from his silver pickup truck.

Leaving approximately 44 feet of skid marks from trying to brake to avoid the collision, Abney's vehicle spun around and ended up in a yard of a home on the south side of the highway less than 10 feet from point of impact.

Emergency response personnel treated his injuries Ð serious lacerations to the upper left shoulder area and the neck and throat area Ð and stabilized the driver of the silver pickup before transporting him by ambulance to a waiting Air-Evac air ambulance in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Abney was taken to Wishard Hospital in Indianapolis.

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