Wrecks lead to traffic woes for motorists, power outage

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Two wrecks on opposite sides of Seymour on Monday caused traffic delays, power outages and road closures.

The more serious wreck, which caused a power outage and a major road closure, involved a 38-year-old Seymour man whose semitrailer left the roadway at the Jackson-Jennings county line, said Jackson County Sheriff’s Department Officer Brad Barker.

Chris Jones sustained upper torso injuries after the wreck on U.S. 50 near Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge was reported to police at 12:01 p.m. Monday.

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He was taken to Schneck Medical Center in Seymour with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Jones was traveling westbound when witnesses said he braked before the truck left the roadway, Barker said. The semitrailer was hauling bales of cardboard for Royal Oak Recycling of Cleveland, Ohio.

After leaving the roadway, Jones’ truck went down an embankment on the north side of the road and turned over into standing water. It came to rest on the passenger side.

The wreck also brought down utility lines and at least two poles, creating outages for at least 55 Duke Energy customers. Power was restored later in the afternoon.

Barker said witnesses didn’t see anything in the road that could have caused him to swerve, and Jones told police he didn’t know what happened and couldn’t remember anything about the wreck.

“He said he had no clue what happened and said he didn’t know if he blacked out, had a medical condition or what happened,” Barker said. “He said he had pain all over and had difficulty breathing and a lot of chest pain.”

Seymour firefighters were called to the scene and first responders placed a ladder on the ground and over the water onto the fuel tank of the truck, Barker said. The department’s bucket ladder was suspended over the vehicle to assist with extracting Jones, he said.

The crash forced a closure of U.S. 50 and at the U.S. 31 junction for eastbound traffic and the refuge for westbound traffic for several hours.

Indiana State Police, Seymour Fire Department, Redding Township Volunteer Fire Department, Jackson County Emergency Medical Services, Duke Energy and 31 Wrecker assisted with the wreck.

Earlier in the day, a three-vehicle wreck was reported around 11 a.m. on the far west side of Seymour, west of Hangman’s Crossing.

The wreck occurred when William Wayman, 53, of Brownstown was driving his 2001 Pontiac Bonneville westbound on U.S. 50 and rear-ended a 2004 Ford van driven by Thomas White, 43, of Morgantown, Seymour Police Department Officer Kevin Settle said.

That collision forced White into the eastbound lane, where he hit a 2016 GMC Sierra driven by Monte Stinson, 56, of Brownstown head-on.

No injuries were reported, and traffic was diverted around the stretch of road for roughly a half-hour while crews cleaned up the wreck.

No citations were issued in the wreck.

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First responders will close U.S. 50 at the Jackson-Jennings county line at 9 a.m. today to clear the rest of the load left from Monday’s wreck.

Motorists traveling westbound should use the State Road 750 bypass to State Road 7 to U.S. 31, while eastbound traffic should use U.S. 31, Jackson County Sheriff’s Department Officer Brad Barker said.

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