Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Wednesday, October 8, 2014
(SALEM) - A Washington County woman has been sentenced to four years at the Indiana Department of Corrections, with one year suspended, after pleading guilty to reckless homicide.
33-year-old Brooke Bunch of Pekin was under the influence of a controlled substance when she crashed her Jeep Cherokee into a Harley Davidson motorcycle driven by Johnny Ferrill of Sellersburg on April 8, 2013. The impact caused the motorcycle and Ferrill to fly into a field On State Road 60, just east of Motsinger Road in Pekin. Ferrill died at the scene.
The day of the accident, Washington County Sheriff Claude Combs says the department received numerous 911 calls minutes before the fatal accident, reporting a possible drunk driver driving erratically on State Road 60.
Combs says Bunch was traveling eastbound in a 2004 Jeep Cherokee and had run off the right side of the roadway, then came back onto the highway. She then crossed into the left bound lane colliding with the motorcycle. Bunch was transported by helicopter ambulance from the scene to University of Louisville Hospital.
Witnesses who saw Bunch's erratic driving started calling the department seven minutes before the fatal crash when Brook was on Jackson Street in Salem.
They told police Bunch was swerving constantly and had crossed a double yellow line.
Then Bunch crossed the yellow line in front of O'Sully's Liquor Store and almost caused a head-on collision with a red Grand Am. The driver of the Grand Am laid on the horn and was able to avoid the crash by swerving into the other lane.
One witness told WSLM radio that they followed Bunch so they could report the Jeep's location to police. When they reached the bypass Bunch was all over the road.
They then passed Motsinger Road and that is when Bunch, according to witnesses, topped the hill and went completely over into the other lane. According to dispatchers, an oncoming vehicle had to leave the roadway to avoid the collision.
At that point a witness says that Bunch left the roadway, went down an embankment, made a u-turn and then went back onto the highway.
A short distance later, Bunch collided with Ferrill's motorcycle.
Bunch admitted during an interview with sheriff's deputies that she had taken two zolpidem tatrate pills that had been prescribed for another individual and knew the pills could cause dizziness and drowsiness.
Bunch is to serve three years in the Indiana Department of Corrections and will be on probation for one year after her release. Her driving privileges were suspended for five years, she must pay $168.50 in court costs and $100 probation administration fees.
1340 AM WBIW welcomes comments and suggestions by calling 812.277.1340 during normal business hours or by email at comments@wbiw.com
© Ad-Venture Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.