July 27, 2004

Police:  Wreck caused by fleeing driver

       A drive to church Sunday morning left a Prince’s Lakes resident in a hospital bed instead of with her Southport congregation.  The driver who hit her was fleeing the scene of another accident in Marion County, police said.  Robin Pike, 43, was one of three drivers involved in a morning car crash in White River Township that left her trapped inside her Oldsmobile Achieva. Another car was damaged, and the car believed to have caused the accident flipped upside down.

       The three-car accident occurred about 9:30 a.m. Sunday in White River Township, on State Road 135 near Olive Branch Road.  Christopher Linhart, 31, of Indianapolis, was driving southbound in a Volkswagen Passat when he crossed the center line, causing the accident on State Road 135, according to a police report.  Linhart was fleeing from the scene of a property-damage accident in Marion County and was aggressively driving through White River Township, said Deputy David Walters at the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.

       A witness told police that Linhart lost control of his car, drove onto the grass, came back into traffic and smashed into Pike’s car and another vehicle traveling northbound.  Linhart told police later that he had been drinking earlier that morning and had taken a sleeping pill, the report says.  Walters also wrote in the report that he checked with the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles and found Linhart’s driving privileges were suspended because of a prior conviction.  “From what I understand, he was driving 60 to 70 miles an hour like a maniac,” Pike said, recalling her conversations with police. “He went up into the grass on the right side (of State Road 135), was driving sideways and then came down and hit my driver’s side. He was there before I knew it.”  A witness at the scene gave a similar account to police, according to the report.

       Pike didn’t lose consciousness, and a day later she was recuperating at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, thankful and fully aware of what happened when speaking from her hospital room.  “They had to cut the top of my car and door off,” Pike said by telephone Monday. “I remember everything and didn’t black out. The scariest part was when I thought I was going to black out. I didn’t know what injuries I had, and the second I felt myself blacking out I thought that was it.”  Pike said she used her cell phone to call her husband, Deon, after the accident. She then called her mother, who lives in White River Township.  Pike was taken to Methodist Hospital, and doctors had to surgically repair her spleen, she said. She spent Monday recuperating, expecting to be home later this week and back to work in 14 days.  “I’m doing OK, just really sore,” she said. “I thank God I’m alive.”

       The driver of the third vehicle, a Chevy Impala, did not report injuries from the accident.  Linhart was taken to Wishard Memorial Hospital in Indianapolis. His condition was not available Monday evening.  Blood and breath tests were taken but were not available by Monday evening, Walters said.  (This article and photo reprinted with permission from the Daily Journal)
      

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