Four Air Lifted After Serious Crash On St. Rd 3

Adam Huening

A single vehicle crash on State Road 3 North caused a flurry of chaotic events and sent four young men to Indianapolis hospitals via helicopters late Monday evening.

According to the report filed by Decatur County Sheriff’s Deputy Kevin Rohr, Jeremy McGuire, 19, was driving a 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee north on State Road 3 shortly before 11 p.m. Monday. The vehicle, registered to Tyler Davidson, 20, who was in the front passenger seat at the time, was hauling a flat-bed trailer with a half-ton pick-up on it. After descending the I-74 overpass and heading north, the trailer began to sway. According to the report, the weight being pulled by the Jeep exceeded the vehicle’s hauling capacity.

“There was just too much weight on that trailer for that Jeep. Then it started to sway and that was it,” Sheriff Daryl Templeton said.

The trailer left the roadway about a quarter mile from the Frontage Road intersection. McGuire tried to right the trailer, the report states, but was unable get the vehicle and its load back onto the highway. The Jeep slammed through an electric pole, causing the lights to flicker at Wal-Mart and killing power to the surrounding area. The pick-up was jettisoned from the trailer smashing into the Jeep as the pole spilt in two and lines came crashing down.

The DCSD received a 911 call at 10:52 p.m. When first responders arrived on the scene, it was a bit of a shock, they said.

“When we first got here, three boys were laying on the side of the road,” Greensburg Fire Capt. Brian Wenning said at the scene.

McGuire, Davidson and a back seat passenger, Korbin Day, 19, had self-extricated themselves from the vehicle and were on the roadway waiting for help. Derek Hall, 20, was trapped in the backseat of the Jeep, bleeding from his head, according to reports, and power lines were hanging dangerously close to the vehicle.

“It was taxing at first. We had four patients right off the bat, with one entrapment,” Greensburg Fire Chief Scott Chasteen said.

Officers from the DCSD and Greensburg Police Department ran traffic as the fire department and Decatur County EMS quickly assessed the scene. With multiple severe injuries, time was of the essence, according to Teresa Wise, EMS director.

“It all goes back to triaging the patient,” Wise said. “You really have to coordinate your time and that’s the ball game.”

With Hall in need of the jaws of life to remove him from the Jeep, Wise said EMS focused on the other three as firefighters navigated the power lines to get him from the vehicle.

“Brian (Wenning) did a good job assessing (the power lines). In addition to overseeing the extrication, he was there to make sure everyone was clear of the lines,” Chasteen said.

It was immediately apparent, Wise noted, that all four needed medical attention quickly. The county’s four ambulances were called on the scene as traffic along the highway was halted. Wise and Chasteen noted they knew they needed more than one helicopter to save the lives of the four men.

“All the dispatchers, city and county, did a great job. We told them what we needed and they got it,” Chasteen said.

Dispatch called in three helicopters from around the area. The first to arrive was LifeLine from Columbus. As one patient was loaded and Hall extracted from the vehicle, responders decided to send Day to Decatur County Memorial Hospital. He was later transported to Wishard Hospital in Indianapolis via helicopter, according to Templeton. As soon as the first helicopter took off, another was circling the field next to the accident ready to land. It was followed closely by the third chopper. The two came from Air Evac in Rushville and PHI in North Vernon, respectively.

Despite all the ambulances being tied up at the accident, Chasteen said the access to the helicopters helped keep ambulances available in the case of another emergency elsewhere.

“We’re blessed in that we have three helicopters within a 20-mile radius,” Chasteen said. “Almost as soon as they were in the air, they had a visual on us.”

Hall, Davidson and McGuire were all airlifted to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis and were in serious condition as off press time Tuesday. The status of Day was unknown at press time.

For Wise, the fact the men received the medical attention they needed quickly could be credited to the coordination between agencies.

“We train to manage chaos,” Wise said. “There was a lot of unstableness (at the scene), especially with power lines, which is why it’s so nice to work together. We depend on each other to save a person’s life.”

The highway was closed down until the early morning. Duke Energy was able to repair the lines and restore power around 2:30 a.m.

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