SHELBY COUNTY, Ind. — A Shelby County Sheriff's Department deputy was killed in a single-vehicle crash on Interstate 74 in Shelby County early Wednesday morning, Sheriff Louis Koch said.
Shortly after 3:30 a.m., Shelby County Sheriff's Department deputies, along with Indiana State Police troopers, responded to the crash along I-74 westbound at the 113 mile-marker, just north of Shelbyville, ISP said. There, they located an unconscious and unresponsive man pinned under a motorcycle.
The man, identified by the sheriff as 37-year-old Deputy Jay L. Griffith Jr., was pronounced dead at the scene.
Griffith had been with the Shelby County Sheriff's Department since June 2013. He was off-duty at the time and was set to be heading on vacation.
Preliminary investigation determined Griffith was traveling westbound on I-74 and exiting at the State Road 9 ramp when he applied the brakes and started to skid. The motorcycle then fell over and trapped him underneath. State police said Griffith was wearing a helmet.
According to police, Griffith was participating in a multi-state motorcycle ride with a group of other motorcyclists. Police said the ride had just started in Shelbyville when the crash happened.
"Deputy Griffith’s passing is an immense loss to the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department and our community in which he lived and served," Koch said in a statement. "I want to share my condolences with Jay’s family friends and colleagues, he will be greatly missed."
The exit ramp was closed for several hours Wednesday morning as police investigated the crash.
The Shelby County Coroner's Office said in a release that alcohol, drugs, and speed are not suspected to be the cause of the death. An autopsy, conducted Sept. 8, determined Griffith's death was accidental. He died of blunt trauma to the head and chest.