COLUMBUS, Ind. — A man from Indianapolis was killed early Monday morning in a crash on I-65 near Columbus.
Indiana State Police say 34-year-old Marcus Grayson was riding his motorcycle around 2 a.m., when he hit a deer, causing him to be thrown into the middle of the road.
“The weather is cooler, deer are starting to move, so we start to see a lot of ‘vehicle vs. deer’ accidents,” State Police Sgt. Stephen Wheeles said. “Unfortunately, when a motorcycle is involved with hitting a deer, it’s more serious.”
A few witnesses stopped their cars on the interstate and got out to help Grayson. But, Sgt. Wheeles says that’s when a semi approached the scene and couldn’t stop in time. The tractor-trailer crashed into the vehicles, along with some of the people who were in the road.
Grayson was killed. One of the people who had stopped and gotten out to help, 37-year-old Adam Whyde of Beech Grove, was airlifted to an Indianapolis hospital in serious condition.
“From my understanding, that individual was some kind of medical emergency responder, or a paramedic or EMT,” Sgt. Wheeles said. “He stopped to help like any first responder would do, whether they’re off-duty or not.”
A third person, Todd Loquercio of Illinois, sustained minor injuries when he was hit by debris.
“I don’t want to second-guess those who were involved,” Wheeles said. “They stopped and wanted to help, and thought what they needed to do at the time was the right thing to do. But something to think about, you know, is to position your vehicle out of the roadway, because there is still a lot of traffic still coming, and they’re traveling at 60, 70, sometimes 80 miles per hour, and aren’t expecting to have traffic stopped in the middle of the roadway, especially that late at night.”
The northbound lanes of I-65 were shut down for about four hours due to crash cleanup and investigation.
