A Columbus teenager died and a passenger was seriously injured in a single-vehicle accident in rural Bartholomew County.
Indiana State Police were sent to County Road 250E near County Road 275S at 8 p.m. Thursday where a 2006 Mazda passenger car driven by Kyle N. Hall, 18, Columbus, had overturned several times, said Sgt. Stephen Wheeles, Indiana State Police spokesman.
Indiana State Police Crash reconstructionist Matt Holley said Hall was traveling north on County Road 250E when he lost control of the vehicle for an unknown reason, Wheeles said. The vehicle left the east side of the roadway and rolled several times before coming to a stop.
Hall was alive and able to speak to first responders after the accident and was transported by ambulance to Columbus Regional Hospital where he was later pronounced dead by Bartholomew County Deputy Coroner Charlie Deweese.
Hall’s cause of death was blunt force trauma to the chest and pelvic area, said Bartholomew County Coroner Clayton Nolting.
A passenger in the vehicle, Lilly E. Hall, 18, also of Columbus, was ejected from the vehicle during the crash and sustained serious injuries, Wheeles said. She was airlifted to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis for treatment and was listed in stable condition at the hospital on Friday.
Investigators said the accident occurred in an area of County Road 250E, also known as Mineral Springs Road, that is straight, two-lane county road. Wheeles said investigators believe the car may have hit a culvert when it went off the road, causing it to roll. The accident reconstructionist is still working to determine how fast the car might have been going when the accident occurred, Wheeles said.
Toxicology tests have been ordered and results are expected back in about two weeks, Nolting said.
Wheeles said it is believed that Kyle and Lilly Hall were married. Social media posts included information that the couple had an 3-month-old baby, who was in the care of a grandparent and not with the couple when the accident occurred, according to first responders.
Holley was assisted at the scene by Troopers David Owsley and Derek Eggers, all from the Versailles Post, Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, Columbus Regional EMS, Columbus Township Fire & Rescue, Elizabethtown Fire Department and the Bartholomew County Coroner’s Office.
