INDIANAPOLIS — Two IFD firefighters are left injured after a driver allegedly plowed through an incident scene on Interstate 65 early Saturday morning and hit them.
IFD Battalion Chief Rita Reith said the firefighters were hit by a vehicle while dealing with a single-car crash on I-65 southbound at 38th Street just before 4 a.m. on Sept. 7.
The firefighters were waiting for Indiana State Police to arrive on the scene when a 30-year-old male driver struck them, causing a secondary crash.
Reith explained that IFD Ladder 30 was in the far right lane, positioned at an angle to block on-coming traffic. Fire crews were helping the occupants of a car that landed in the grass just off the interstate, and IFD Engine 30 was helping the occupants of the second vehicle a few hundred feet south of the ladder.
Both had their emergency lights activated, Reith noted.
Firefighters said the driver then came through the scene, between the ladder and the car in the grass. Reith explained that the two firefighters were standing at the front edge of the ladder and were hit around "bumper level." She said this sent one of the firefighters airborne. He luckily didn't land on the vehicle, but the other firefighter was pinned beneath the front of the vehicle. Firefighters on scene were able to remove him.
Both of the firefighters were taken to Eskenazi Hospital. Reith said one firefighter had minor injuries and, after being checked, will recover at home. The second firefighter sustained "serious but non-life threatening injuries" and was admitted to the hospital.
The suspect was taken into custody. Alcohol and speed are being investigated as possible factors in the incident, Reith said. The suspect faces preliminary charges of operating while intoxicated resulting in serious bodily injury, operating while intoxicated with a BAC at or above .15, operating without ever having received a license, and operating while intoxicated resulting in a person's endangerment.
ISP is still investigating the crash.