An elderly man was injured and flown to Indianapolis for medical treatment Thursday after being struck by a vehicle near Bal-Hinch Country Store.
The 77-year-old man was reportedly at his mailbox near C.R. 400S and Tiffany Lane shortly before noon when he was struck, Montgomery County Deputy and Public Information Officer Matt McCarty said.
“The mailbox was also struck (by the vehicle) traveling westbound,” McCarty said. “We have a witness that said the vehicle that struck him was not driving excessively.”
Speed and foul play are not a factor in the incident, McCarty added. The driver, who was said to be traveling 30-40 mph, was issued a citation for a traffic violation and has not been charged.
The victim appeared to have suffered a fractured leg at the scene, authorities say, and was unconscious in a ditch when paramedics arrived.
“He didn’t lay there long,” McCarty said. “We believe it was a passerby who noticed and immediately called it in; it could’ve been a vehicle that was (following) behind.”
The driver and a separate motorist who witnessed the collision contacted authorities and remained on scene, contrary to scanner reports that the driver had fled.
“There was some confusion on that. The call yesterday where it sounded like originally the vehicle that struck the pedestrian had left — that’s inaccurate. The vehicle that struck the pedestrian stayed there,” Sheriff Ryan Needham said Friday.
No further information was available Friday and the incident remains under investigation.
