Liberty, In. — A head-on collision Wednesday morning on State Road 44, just west of Liberty, claimed the life of a Connersville woman and had State Road 44 closed for hours. The Union County Sheriff’s Department was notified of the crash on State Road 44, just west of Liberty in the area west of Hoffman Rd., around 6:30 a.m. this morning.
After deputies arrived and assessed the scene, Trooper Aaron Edwards was summoned to the scene, along with Crash Reconstruction Investigators Trooper Scott Keegan and Trooper Coley McCutcheon. The early investigation shows that an “Indy Airport” 2019 Dodge taxi van, driven by Aderaw Adugna Workie, age 40 of Indianapolis, was eastbound on SR 44 when the driver lost control of his vehicle on the icy roadway.
The taxi van drove left of center into the westbound lane, hitting a state-owned 2017 Ford Expedition driven by on-duty State Fire Marshall Ross A. Keasling, age 48 of Liberty, head on. Both vehicles ended up in the north side ditch after the crash. Neither driver was injured, however, a back seat passenger in the taxi, Carrie A. Carter, age 44 of Connersville, succumbed to the injuries she received in the crash. It is unknown if she was wearing a safety belt at the time of the crash, as the investigation remains ongoing.
The crash had SR 44 west of Liberty closed for nearly four hours as troopers conducted their investigation. Troopers Edwards, Keegan and McCutcheon were assisted in their investigation by Sergeant Metcalfe, and Troopers Dan Jones, Scott McPheeters and Eric Thumb as well as Investigator Andrew Wandersee; the Union County Sheriff’s Department, the Liberty Police Department and Union County Fire Departments.
