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ISP: Trooper's car hit by drunk driver while on scene of New Year's morning crash on I-465

A suspected drunk driver hit a trooper's patrol car that was parked on I-465, where at least eight vehicles had crashed early New Year's morning.

INDIANAPOLIS — A trooper was on the scene of a multi-vehicle crash on New Year's morning when a suspected drunk driver hit her parked patrol car, Indiana State Police said. 

First responders were called to the west side of Indianapolis around 3:40 a.m. for a serious crash on Interstate 465, near West 46th Street, that involved at least eight vehicles. One person from that crash was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

Several lanes of I-465 were closed as police investigated. 

Trooper Kendra Gonzalez, who was off duty, was called to help at the scene and with crash reconstruction, police said. 

When she got there, she parked her car in the closed area of the crash scene with her emergency lights activated. 

Gonzalez was standing outside her car just before 7 a.m. when 45-year-old Tony Staker, of Indianapolis, ran his Ford Fusion into her patrol car. 

State police said Gonzalez was not injured in the crash. 

Credit: Indiana State Police
A suspected drunk driver slammed into a trooper's patrol car that was parked at the scene of a New Year's morning crash involving at least eight vehicles on I-465.

Investigators said they had reason to believe Staker was intoxicated. He was taken into custody, then to a local hospital for a blood draw. The results of that test are pending. He was later taken to the Marion County Jail for operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

The cause of the multi-vehicle crash is still under investigation, state police said. All lanes of I-465 opened around 9:30 a.m.

The overnight hours from New Year's Eve and New Year's Day yielded several drunk driving arrests.

In that timeframe, Indianapolis troopers arrested five drunk drivers. State police said two of those arrests involved crashes, and another one was a wrong-way driver on Sam Jones Expressway. 

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