Published: April 17, 2009 10:18 pm         

Terre Haute man involved in fatal crash

ELLETTSVILLE — A Terre Haute man was involved Thursday in a fatal vehicle crash west of Ellettsville on Indiana 46.

Indiana State Police report John F. Abrell, 56, of Terre Haute was driving a pickup truck west-bound on 46 when he collided with the rear of a 2000 Mazda that was stopped in the roadway waiting to turn south onto Sunnyside Lane about a mile east of McCormick’s Creek State Park.

The impact pushed the Mazda into the east-bound lane of 46, where it was struck head-on by an on-coming Ford SUV driven by Jeremy Sherfield, 29, of Spencer, according to a State Police news release issued late Thursday.

A passenger in the Mazda, Alice B. Collier, 54, of Spencer, was taken to Bloomington Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The driver of the Mazda, Tonia Lee, 40, also of Spencer, was listed as “stable” Friday afternoon at Bloomington Hospital.

There was no evidence that alcohol played a role in the accident, which remains under investigation, according to the news release.