Man dies, woman injured in crash of car, tow truck

MITCHELL, Ind. (WISH) — One man is dead, and a woman is injured after a Wednesday afternoon crash between a car and a tow truck on State Road 37 in Lawrence County.

Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched at 3:15 p.m. to a report of a multivehicle crash along State Road 37 near Dixie Highway, police say. Officers arrived to find the crash involved a passenger car and a wrecker towing another vehicle.

Investigators revealed that a 2007 Ford Focus car was exiting an auto dealership on the east side of State Road 37 to turn left onto State Road 37. A 2015 Ford tow truck, owned by A-1 Towing of Seymour, was approaching the dealership’s exit while, at the same time, the Focus was exiting.

The Focus failed to yield and began to cross the northbound lanes of State Road 37 in front of the wrecker. The wrecker switched into the left lane and collided with the Focus. The impact of the collision forced the Focus in a northeast direction, where it stopped off the east side of State Road 37.

The wrecker stopped partially in the median and northbound lanes of State Road 37.

Focus driver Timothy Mahuron, 66, of Salem, was airlifted from the scene. He later died from his injuries. His passenger, Krista Elbe, 48, was airlifted to an Indianapolis hospital for internal injuries.

Tow truck driver Terrence Pompey, 60, was not injured during the crash, but his passenger, Emma Corley, 25, was taken to IU Health in Bedford to be treated for her injuries.

Pompey consented to a blood draw, a required state law on all serious bodily injury and fatal crashes. Those toxicology results are pending, a release said Thursday.