CLARK COUNTY —
Five people were injured Sunday night after a vehicle crossed the median on Interstate 265 near mile marker 7 in Clark County and then burst into flames after striking another vehicle at about 10:45.
“A vehicle had come across the road and hit another vehicle head-on,” said Indiana State Police Trooper Brock McCooe.
An off-duty Jeffersonville Police Department officer and two passersby are being credited with pulling two unconscious people out of the vehicle as it “almost immediately burst into flames,” McCooe said.
In the accident, a westbound white Dodge Intrepid crossed over and struck an eastbound white Pontiac G6, police say.
The Pontiac went into a an embankment, and it took first responders about an hour and a half to extricate the driver, 28-year-old Glennisha Odom, of Louisville. She was transported by Stat Flight to University Hospital in Louisville with several compound leg fractures. The others injured in the wreck were transported to University Hospital by ambulance.
There were four passengers in Odom’s vehicle, including two babies who were in car seats and were unharmed.
The front-seat passenger, Erica Palmer, 27, of Louisville, had only minor injuries. Natascia Leonard, 16, of Louisville, had several cuts and injuries.
The Dodge was driven by 31-year-old Jason Baker, of Charlestown, with 34-year-old Linda Needler, of Clarksville, as the passenger. Both were believed to be unconscious when off-duty JPD Officer Thomas Mitchell along with Mike Dean, of Charlestown, and Fred Morales, of Jeffersonville, all happened to be passing by and stopped to help pull them out of the vehicle.
“It was amazing that everyone was doing OK. The officer and the two people that stopped and pulled those two people out of the vehicle, that was a godsend,” McCooe said.
Baker had extensive hip and leg injuries, and Needler had leg and head injuries.
McCooe said they have no indication of what caused the wreck at this time. Standard blood and urine tests to check for intoxication are being performed.
Traffic was diverted at Interstate 65 southbound as the interstate was closed. One lane reopened at 12:33 a.m.
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