Police: Speed, alcohol, weather possible factors in deadly crash
Aug. 23—Speed, alcohol and poor weather conditions may have been factors in a Sunday morning, single-car accident that claimed the lives of three Indiana State University students and left two others injured, according to a Vigo County Sheriff's Office crash report.
The sheriff's office lists "unsafe speed" as a primary factor in the accident, in which a car struck a tree at the corner of Indiana 46 and Main Street inside Riley; the car then caught fire.
Also, police said, "weather at the time of the accident was heavy rain and thunderstorms and 3-4 inches of standing water."
The car was traveling west on Indiana 46 about 1:35 a.m. and struck a tree where the road curves northwest. There was heavy rain at the time of the accident, the report states.
The three students who died at the scene were:
—Christian Eubanks, 18, Waukegan, Illinois.
—Jayden Musili, 19, Fort Wayne
—Caleb VanHooser, 19, Liberty Township, Ohio.
The two passengers who survived the accident were Omarion Dixon, 20, from Lafayette, and John Moore, 19, from Wheaton, Illinois.
Dixon and Moore were both injured. Both are hospitalized at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. They are no longer in the intensive care unit, but both are in serious condition.
According to the police report, one of the injured passengers, Moore, was able to talk to deputies at the scene and at the hospital. He said they were traveling back from a house party in Bloomington and "that everyone had been drinking at the party."
He also stated they "were traveling at speeds of 90 miles per hour at the time of the accident," according to the report. Eubanks was the driver, Moore told officers. The car was a 2008 4-door Toyota Camry owned by the Eubanks family.
A witness at the scene said he was traveling east on Indiana 46 and stated "it was very hard to see due to the downpouring rain."
As the witness came around the corner on Indiana 46, he saw that a vehicle had crashed into a tree and was on fire. He ran over and pulled the first victim from the car; he received assistance from another person, and they were able to pull a second occupant out.
Eubanks, VanHooser, Dixon and Moore are all on ISU's football team. Musili, a freshman who attended ISU via the Pathway To Blue program, was thought to be friends with one of the players.
ISU President Deborah Curtis, ISU Director of Athletics Sherard Clinkscales and football coach Curt Mallory conducted a press conference late Monday afternoon and gave some details.
"The passengers in a car behind the accident acted quickly and the first responders performed heroically to extricate everyone they could from the flame-engulfed vehicle. Regrettably, three of those students passed away at the scene," Curtis said.
Vigo County coroner Dr. Janie Myers said the death investigation continues and the coroner's office is awaiting toxicology test results.
