Two Daviess county teens escaped serious injuries late Sunday night when the jeep they were riding in flipped in rural Daviess County.
Indiana State Police say just after 11 o’clock Sunday evening Daviess County Dispatch Center received a report of a single vehicle crash with possible entrapment. A trooper with the state police was in the area and arrived on scene to find a 1994 Jeep Wrangler driven by 16-year old Ethan Malone of Odon upside down in a deep ditch at the intersection of County Road 1100 East and County Road 1675 North.
A Preliminary investigation by police found that Malone was driving the Jeep north on County Road 1100 East.
As he began to travel down a steep hill police say the Jeep traveled off the east side of the road and got stuck in a small ditch. A passenger in the Jeep, 17-year old Ian Bird of Odon, got out and attempted to push the vehicle out of the ditch while Malone steered the vehicle.
Police say they successfully got the Jeep out of the ditch, however, due to the icy conditions, the vehicle began to slide out of control down the hill where it traveled into a steep ditch. This caused the Jeep to flip over onto its top before coming to rest at the bottom of the ditch.
Authorities say Malone was trapped in the vehicle for a short time but was able to free himself and crawl out of the wreckage. They say he was wearing his seatbelt at the time which reduced his injuries. He was taken to Daviess Community Hospital in Washington for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.
Bird meanwhile was treated at the scene for an abrasion on his hand from pushing the vehicle out of the smaller ditch.
Assisting the Indiana State Police at the scene was the Daviess County Sheriff’s Department, South West Medical and the Odon Volunteer Fire Department.
