GREENFIELD — It has been a deadly stretch of road on I-70 traveling through Hancock County over the past several days where two people were killed in two separate crashes.
Officials with the Indiana State Police say they are investigating a fatal motorcycle accident on I-70 late Saturday night that took the life of a Richmond man.
The motorcyclist has been identified as Mark Webster, 47, Richmond.
At approximately 11:59 p.m. Saturday, emergency crews responded to the scene of a serious multi-vehicle crash in the eastbound lanes of I-70 near the 97 mile marker, officials with the ISP said in a release. A semi-tractor trailer involved in the crash caught fire, closing both eastbound and westbound traffic lanes for several hours.
When first responders arrived, they located a man, later identified as Webster, lying in the roadway, officials said. He was pronounced deceased at the scene. The drivers of the other vehicles involved were not injured.
Indiana State Police Crash Reconstructionists Lieutenant Tyler Utterback and Trooper Kari Woodard responded to the scene to conduct the investigation. Preliminary information has led investigators to believe a pick-up truck pulling a car trailer had broken down in the right lane of I-70 where there are no emergency shoulders due to construction in the area.
The motorcyclist, Webster, officials said did not see what was coming and struck the back of the car trailer. Webster was ejected into the left lane. Another eastbound car then struck the motorcycle and the motorcyclist. Shortly after the second impact, a semi-tractor trailer struck the motorcycle in the roadway causing the motorcycle and eventually the semi trailer to catch on fire.
The driver of the semi was able to get out of the truck prior to the fire.
The eastbound lanes of I-70 were closed for approximately seven hours while the crash was investigated and the wreckage was removed. The westbound lanes had to be closed while the semi was engulfed due to the proximity of the fire to the westbound traffic. The westbound lanes were reopened at 1:55 a.m.
This investigation is ongoing and there is no further information to release at this time. However, local officials were already investigating yet another fatal crash on the interstate that happened late last week.
Officials with the Greenfield Police Department told the Daily Reporter one person died following a Thursday night crash on I-70 near Greenfield.
Edward K. White, 71, Somerset, Ohio, was killed as a result of the multi-vehicle crash involving a van and semi-tractor trailers, officials said. White, officials said, was the driver of a van that had been rear-ended by a semi-tractor trailer. Officials noted traffic in the area had been slowed due to a disabled semi-tractor trailer on the shoulder of I-70.
The crash happened around 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25 on I-70 eastbound just west of the Ind. 9 exit in Greenfield, near mile marker 103.
Officials noted the investigation, being conducted by the county’s FACT Team, is ongoing but more details will not be released at the time.
The road was closed until around 1:30 a.m. Friday morning, but some traffic still remained around 5:30 a.m. due to the backup. Officials with the Indiana Department of Transportation noted some drivers had to be woken up after falling asleep while stuck in traffic for hours.
