Columbus community rallying behind teens involved in car wreck
COLUMBUS, Ind. (WISH) — Two teenage boys from Columbus were still in the hospital Monday night after their car flipped in a corn field Friday night.
One of the teens graduated last year, the other is currently a sophomore at Columbus Christian High School.
Columbus Christian is a fairly small and close knit community, so everyone knows these two young men.
“Over the corn field you could just see debris flying and pieces of telephone pole flying 30 feet in the air,” senior Logan Roth said.
Roth was first on the scene when a car with two of his friends inside crashed on a rural county road near Columbus.
“Once we got up there and saw who it was, just very shocking,” he said.
Roth goes to Columbus Christian High School with 16-year-old Levi Sallee and attended with recent graduate 19-year-old Adriane Polley.
“We knew it was a situation where we needed to get there as quickly as we could,” Superintendent Kendall Wildey said.
He rushed to the crash site when he heard what happened.
He was also one of dozens who showed up at the ER to support the families, like Minister Ron Bridgewater.
“The night of the accident the emergency room was filled with people from the school and from the church,” Sr. Minister East Columbus Christian Church Ron Bridgewater said.
Bridgewater describes the church and school community as very close and tight knit.
“It hurts. It hurts the whole school,” he said.
Both young men played basketball and Levi is currently involved in several school and church activities.
“He participates in soccer, basketball, baseball, I think he’s run some cross country in the past,” Wildey said.
“They also have been active through the youth group at our church and they just returned from a mission trip to Mexico just a few weeks ago,” Bridgewater said.
“Just two really good, solid young men, two leaders in our school,” Wildey said.
The community anxiously waits for updates from the families, hoping for a full recovery, especially for Levi who received the most serious injuries.
“I just pray that he can improve as much as possible,” Roth said.
Levi was still in the ICU at Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital Monday night and at last check had not regained consciousness since the wreck.
Adriane is expected to be released soon.
Tuesday there will be counselors available for the students and staff at Columbus Christian.