INDIANA – On Thursday, September 7 at approximately 11:15 p.m. the Lowell Regional Dispatch Center received 911 calls of a crash involving a school bus and a semi on I-65.
This location is two miles north of the Fair Oaks exit.
Troopers responding to the scene found the bus in the right hand ditch. The bus driver was pinned inside, but alert. The investigation found that the bus had rear-ended a semi in the right lane. Initially, the semi pulled over and Good Samaritans stopped to help the bus and semi-drivers, but the semi suddenly fled the scene.
While troopers and first responders worked to free the bus driver, another trooper tracked down the semi, parked behind a Love’s Truck stop in Jasper County. It was clear the semi had sustained significant damage from a recent accident, but after locating the driver, he gave a report inconsistent with what occurred on the interstate.
Identified as Aregay Tesfay Gebremariam, 57, of Atlanta Georgia, was taken into custody and taken to the Jasper County Jail. He has been preliminarily charged with Leaving the Scene of a Crash Involving Catastrophic Bodily Injury, a level 4 felony.
The driver of the bus, who was the only occupant, was trapped inside the bus for several hours while the fire department worked to extricate him from the vehicle. Once freed, the driver was transported to Franciscan Health Hospital in Rensselaer and later taken to a hospital in Chicago for treatment of potentially life-threatening injuries.
This School bus was new and was being driven to another location. It was not transporting passengers at the time of the crash. The bus is owned by Norton Transport Inc. located in Rock Spring, GA. The semi is owned by Weini Transportation LLC, based in Charlotte, NC. Inspections of both the bus, the semi, and trailer will be completed by the Indiana State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division.
Alcohol/drugs are not suspected to be factors in this crash. Charges mentioned are preliminary, final charges to be determined by the Jasper County Prosecutor. All suspects named are presumed to be innocent until/unless proven guilty in court.
