Two Hope women in an SUV narrowly avoided going over an ice-covered overpass and dropping onto northbound Interstate 65 on Monday afternoon.
Victoria Hagan, 31, 13140 N. County Road 300E, had minor head and neck injuries after the 2:39 p.m. accident on County Road 1000N along the Shelby-Bartholomew county line, said Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Deputy Andrew Dugan.
A passenger, Samantha Thompson, 22, who also resides on County Road 300E in northeast Bartholomew County, had minor cuts and bruising to her hand, Dugan said.
Hagan was driving her 1996 Jeep Cherokee westbound on County Road 1000N, Dugan said. As the two were approaching the overpass across I-65, the SUV started veering to the left while going up a 30-degree incline along the ice-covered road, Dugan said.
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The vehicle struck a curb and went over a guardrail before dropping about 35 feet down a steep embankment at the approach to the overpass, with the SUV flipping over in a farm field, Dugan said.
Both women were alert and outside the SUV when deputies arrived, Dugan said.
If the vehicle had traveled another 40 feet before falling off the overpass, it could have crashed into the northbound lane of I-65, investigators said.
Hagan and Thompson were taken by ambulance to Columbus Regional Hospital to be examined, the deputy said.
