I-70 crash claims woman’s life

Staff report
The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE July 18, 2008 12:08 am

— A Texas woman died early Thursday morning and her husband remained hospitalized from injuries suffered in a five-vehicle crash Wednesday evening on the eastbound lane of Interstate 70.
Marilyn English, 34, of Irving, Texas, was pronounced dead at 7:30 a.m. in Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. She had been airlifted there with massive head and internal injuries after the crash, which occurred about 6:04 p.m. Wednesday near the Wabash River bridge.
English’s husband and only passenger, Frederick English, 35, also was flown to Indianapolis after the crash and remains hospitalized with internal injuries, according to a media release issued by the Indiana State Police.
State Police attribute the line of traffic stopped on that highway as a cause, noting that two other traffic-blocking accidents to the east had occurred earlier that day.
According to the ISP report, the five-vehicle pileup began when a van driven by David Berry, 57, of Prairieton, failed to stop at the line of backed-up traffic and hit a car driven by English.
Berry’s vehicle also struck a vehicle driven by Debra Crawford, 46, of Terre Haute.
The collision pushed English’s vehicle into a semitrailer driven by John Hamme of Eldorado, Kan., and Crawford’s vehicle into a vehicle driven by Robert Ernst, 45, Bloomington.
Berry was taken to Terre Haute Regional Hospital, where he was treated and released.
Crawford, Hamme and Ernst reported no injuries at the scene.
Upon completion of the crash report and crash reconstruction, all information will be provided to the Vigo County Prosecutor’s Office for review. That process could take two or three weeks, the report stated.