(Photo courtesy Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office)
HOPE, Ind.–A serious two-vehicle accident south of Hope on Wednesday afternoon left four Hauser High School students trapped inside their vehicle for a time. According to the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office, Sarah Vanderlind, 17, was driving the vehicle of teens and heading west on County Road 600N when she entered the path of a truck towing a trailer, traveling south on State Road 9, driven by Jonathan Tappe, 26, of Taylorsville. The truck smashed into the car on the passenger side. Columbus Fire Department rescue crews were forced to extricate the teens from the vehicle.
Lifeline helicopter flew passenger Erin Newcomb, 17, of Columbus, to Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. Multiple ambulances transported Vanderlind and two other passengers, Veronica McKinney, 16, and John Bragg, 17, both of Hope, to Columbus Regional Health. The truck driver was uninjured.
The road remained closed for nearly three hours while first responders were on the scene.
