Man Killed After Riding into Collapsed Henry County Road
NEW CASTLE, Ind. — A man on a bicycle died over the weekend after riding around flood barricades and falling into a collapsed road in Henry County.
According to the New Castle Mayor’s Office, 31-year-old James Briar of New Castle fell into a hole created by a road collapse near the intersection of Riley Road and Crescent Drive. Briar was found dead shortly before 3:45 a.m. Sunday. The Henry County Coroner’s Office confirmed Briar rode past high-water barricades before crashing into the washed-out section of the road.
Flooding damaged to the roadway last week.
Briar’s death brings Indiana’s total weather-related death toll to seven since severe storms began moving through the state last week.
Floodwaters in Delaware County claimed two people and a dog over the weekend. Emergency responders found a woman and her dog dead inside a vehicle surrounded by floodwaters in Yorktown on Friday, and search crews recovered the body of 18-year-old Matthew Morey from the Mississinewa River on Saturday.
Extreme weather killed four others across Indiana earlier in the week. A 4-year-old boy died Tuesday in Jennings County when a tree fell onto a home, and storms that same day may have caused an explosion that killed another person in the area. Storms knocked loose roofing material in Gary on Wednesday, striking and killing Paula Plebanski. The Indiana Department of Homeland Security also confirmed another storm-related fatality in La Porte County, though details on that incident remain under investigation.
