May 14, 2009

Man dies in pickup accident

       A 72-year-old man died during a single-vehicle crash in the Center Grove area Wednesday afternoon, police said.  His pickup veered into a guardrail near Fairview and Bluff roads and landed upside down in a rain-swollen ditch. A bystander pulled the driver's two grandchildren out of the vehicle, according to police.  Police believe the driver may have suffered a medical emergency based on accounts from witnesses, but officers still are investigating, Johnson County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Doug Cox said.  Authorities have not released the identities of those involved in the crash pending notification of family.  The driver was westbound on Fairview Road with the children in the back seat when he started gurgling, Cox said. The truck struck a guardrail, which sheared off the right front tire and caused the truck to flip into a ditch.

         William Foote was following the truck when it veered off the road. He waded into the waist-deep ditch, which was so swollen by rainwater that large fish swam by the upended truck.  "It was just instinct," he said. "I was just reacting."  Foote opened the rear door and pulled out a 10-year-old boy and a 9-year-old boy and took them to the street. They were visibly shaken but had no apparent injuries and already had gotten out of their seat belts, he said.  He tried to open the driver's side door to get the driver out but couldn't pry the crumpled door open. Other bystanders showed up and tried to help him get into the front of the truck, but both doors were crushed shut.  Foote is a dispatcher for the Greenwood and White River Township fire departments.  "He's usually on the other end of the emergency transmission, but today he was responding," said Bryan Wolfe, an official with the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, who was investigating whether the accident was weather-related. "He's a good man."

         White River Township firefighters had to use cutting equipment to slice the driver's side door open. Reaching into the cab from the back door, firefighter Jim Engmark lifted the driver's head out of the water that filled the cab and held it up for 10 minutes while firefighters sawed open the door.  The driver's head had been fully submerged, and he was not conscious or responsive, Engmark said.  Paramedics at the scene attempted to revive him, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene, Cox said.  Police will wait for the result of an autopsy to determine exactly what happened, he said.  The boys were taken to a nearby hospital to get checked out as a precaution, he said.  "This whole thing was just horribly tragic," Cox said. "Those boys are going to suffer a lot with what they went through. Some of the responders may suffer with what they went through, too."  
 

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