Woman injured in interstate crash

Staff Reports

A Fountain County woman sustained serious injuries in a two-vehicle crash Thursday afternoon on Interstate 65 in southern Bartholomew County, police report.

Wendy L. Crowder, 50, of Veedersburg was flown by air ambulance to IU Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis after the wreck reported at about 1:30 p.m. near the 58-mile marker, Sgt. Stephen Wheeles said.

Wheeles, public information officer for the Indiana State Police Versailles Post, said Crowder was driving a 2006 Toyota sport utility vehicle south when a northbound 2012 Freightliner, driven by John G. Olson of South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, crossed the median for an unknown reason and went into the southbound lanes.

Olson, who was hauling potatoes in a box trailer, made contact with Crowder’s vehicle and then went into the median before stopping, according to Master Trooper Tommy Walker’s report. Crowder’s SUV came to a stop on the shoulder of the interstate.

Olson was not injured, but it took a work crew nearly six hours to unload the load of potatoes, which had shifted in the box trailer, Walker reported. The unloading operation slowed traffic in both directions on the interstate.

Walker was assisted by other troopers with the Indiana State Police, officers with the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, Wayne Township Fire Department, Columbus Regional EMS and 31 Wrecker Service.