WAYNE COUNTY – A Hancock County Sheriff’s deputy was involved in a chase along Interstate 70 in Wayne County that ended in a fatal head-on crash, according to police.
Hancock County Sheriff’s Deputy Nick Ernstes, a member of the Pro-Active Criminal Enforcement, or PACE, team — a multi-agency task force that patrols Interstate 70 from Marion County to the Ohio line — tried to stop a vehicle near the 129 mile marker on eastbound I-70 in Henry County.
The driver, Daniel Lynn, 30, of Aurora, Colorado, appeared to be intoxicated, police said. When Ernstes asked Lynn to step out of his vehicle, Lynn immediately put the car in drive and fled eastbound at high rate of speed, police said.
Ernstes chased Lynn toward Wayne County.
Near the 134 mile marker, Lynn drove his car into the median, causing his car to go airborne and over the cable barrier into the westbound lanes of I-70, police said. His car struck an oncoming pickup truck.
Lynn was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, police said. The driver and a passenger in the pickup truck were taken to an area hospital. Their injuries were not life-threatening.
The crash left westbound I-70 in Wayne County closed for several hours while police investigated the chase.