At approximately 6:56 a.m. Tuesday on I-65 north bound near the 161 mile marker (that is three miles north of the SR 28/158 exit), an unknown vehicle changes lanes colliding with another vehicle which sets off a chain reaction involving two other vehicles.
Preliminary investigation by Trooper Darrick Scott of the ISP Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division has revealed that a black Nissan Altima driven by Michael D. Bettner, 51 of Noblesville was in the left lane when a vehicle from the right lane moved over into Bettner’s lane striking the right front fender. That bump caused his Altima to start spinning out of control and striking a 2015 Freightliner owned by Old Dominion Freight Line out of Thomasville, NC pulling double trailers and driven by Brian D. Boneck, 55 of Greenfield, Wis.
A fourth vehicle, a black 2005 Kia Maxi Van driven by Dmario R. Jenkins, 32 of Kankakee, Ill. was behind the other cars and tried to avoid the crash and drove into the median striking the cable barriers. Jenkins and his passenger, Robert J. Washington, 34 Kankakee were transported to Franciscan Hospital in Lafayette with non-life threatening injuries.
Bettner was transported to IU Arnett Hospital in Lafayette with non-life threatening injuries. Boneck was not injured.
A Greyhound bus driven by John J. Hall pulled over to assist the injured. He retrieved his fire extinguisher from his bus when he saw that the black Nissan was on fire. Hall then used the extinguisher to bust the window out of the passenger side door and pull the driver from the vehicle. After checking on the other victims and making sure police, fire and EMS were in route, he pulled away from the scene to not hinder rescue personnel.
The investigation is on going. We have no description of the vehicle that caused the crash at this time.