One Dead, One Injured in Accident at State Road 37 and US 50 West

(BEDFORD) – A Greenfield man lost his life and a Bedford teen was injured in an accident at 2:36 p.m. Sunday at the intersection of State Road 37 and US 50 West Sunday.

According to a Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department police report, 60-year-old Curtis Eads, of Shelbyville, Kentucky was traveling southbound on State Road 37 approaching the intersection of US 50 West.

At the same time 61-year-old John Coyle, of Greenfield, was traveling southbound on State Road 37 and slowing to stop for the stoplight in the left southbound lane.

Police say 16-year-old Cameron Hagan, of Bedford, was stopped in the left southbound lane on State Road 37 at the intersection of US 50 West.

Police say Eads began aggressively braking the 2017 Orevist bus he was driving approximately 194 feet 3 inches to the rear of Coyle’s 2017 Nissan.

“The skid marks from unit 1 (Eads’ bus) were intermittent for approximately 100 feet indicating that the braking was applied so forcefully as to cause the rear tires of the bus to leave the pavement due to the weight of the vehicle,” the report states.

Eads was not able to stop the bus completely, and it collided with Coyle’s car.

The bus struck the car in the left rear portion of the rear bumper and cargo area.

The bus struck the car with such force as to completely collapse the cargo area of the car. The car was then pushed by bus into the right southbound lane.

The bus then deflected off of Coyle’s car and continued straight into the left southbound lane and struck Hagan’s 2002 Dodge Ram pickup in the rear bumper and tailgate with such force as to move the pickup, which was at a complete stop, into the intersection approximately 35 feet.

The bus then continued through the intersection into southbound traffic.

Police say the bus then came to a complete stop approximately 606 feet south of the intersection. 

Eads told police his foot had got stuck between the accelerator and the brake pedal. He says this prevented him from stopping the bus and that he was not properly trained by his employer on how to fix such a problem. 

Police say Coyle suffered severe head trauma and was unresponsive. He had to be freed from the wreckage. He was taken to a local hospital and then flown to a trauma center where he died from his injuries at 5:32 p.m.

Hagan suffered head, neck and back pain and was taken to a local hospital by his parents for treatment.

Eads was not injured.

Eads was taken to IU Health Hospital for a blood draw due to the nature of the accident. He was issued multiple traffic citations with criminal charges pending further investigation.