Elizabeth Bailey
As silence fell across the courthouse lawn on the second day of the Sesquicentennial celebration for the city of Greensburg, South graduate Dustin Sagaser ran for his life.
At the stoplight where State Roads 3 and 46 part ways, Sagaser sat on his motorcycle, waiting behind a black car. When the light turned green, he said, the car failed to move forward. He thought perhaps they had not noticed the change and tapped his horn. Then, the car moved forward very slowly, he said. As a result, Sagaser decided to pull around the vehicle and go on about his way.
Soon, he felt a nudge on his leg and saw that the black car and its two occupants, Robert Bennett, 37, and William Fenley, 38, were right next to him. Sagaser felt the vehicle was attempting to run him off the road and he sped up to move on. He said he looked in his rearview mirror and saw the car coming up fast, once again seeming to attempt to push Sagaser off the road.
“I had never seen these people before in my life. I was running for my life,” he said adding he was wearing his helmet during the high speed getaway.
As Sagaser finally pulled ahead of the vehicle, he checked his mirrors once more and saw the black car careen off of the roadway and collide with a tree.
“I was very fortunate,” Sagaser said. “I’m parking the bike. In fact, if anyone wants an ‘07 Harley Sportster with 2,300 miles on it, they can let me know.”
The Decatur County Sheriff’s Department received a report of the incident at 8:51 p.m. However, they were not the only department to respond. Greensburg’s Police and Fire Departments assisted as well as Burney Volunteer Fire Department, Decatur County EMS, Lifeline, Homeland Security EMS, one member of Ripley County EMS, Westport Police handling traffic and Jennings County Sheriff’s Department handling accident reconstruction.
“Everybody came,” DCSD Sgt. Brian McCullough noted.
Deputies said initial findings suggested the vehicle could not navigate the curve in the roadway due to the high rate of speed. The vehicle clipped a utility guide wire, McCullough said, then slammed into a tree causing the vehicle to topple and come to a rest on the driver’s side. The occupants were trapped inside the mangled vehicle. Both Bennett and Fenley were taken via Lifeline helicopter for medical treatment following the incident. It was unclear at the scene who had been driving, as it appeared neither was wearing a seatbelt. This allowed their bodies to be rearranged within the vehicle due to the force of impact.
DCSD Deputy Kevin Rohr was the first member of his department to arrive at the scene and will be handling the investigation from this point forward. Blood was drawn from both of the occupants of the black vehicle in order to determine if alcohol or other intoxicants factored into the crash, as is standard in vehicle collisions resulting in serious injury. The accident reconstructionist from Jennings County remained with DCSD officers and others, along with a truck from Acra on hand to remove the vehicle, determining the speed at the time of the crash as well as the details of how the vehicle exited the roadway. Further information may come to light as the investigation continues.
