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No charges will be filed against two Syracuse teenagers who fled a fatal accident Nov. 19.
Toxicology results on driver Thomas M. Hoopingarner, New Paris, who died at the crash scene, ruled out alcohol or drugs as factors in the crash, according to Noble County Coroner Dr. Terry Gaff. Only caffeine and nicotine were found in Hoopingarner's system. Gaff said Hoopingarner's death appears to have been accidental.
A written statement released by Noble County Prosecutor Steven Clouse said, "Although we are all outraged that the boys left Mr. Hoopingarner and did not report the accident, we have found nothing in the Indiana law that would support the filing of a charge. For that reason, Noble County is closing its investigation into this matter."
Hoopingarner was driving a vehicle on Noble CR 1200W Nov. 19 when the car left the road and landed on its top in Greebe Pond in the Tri-County Fish and Wildlife Area. A passing motorist reported the accident the next morning. When the vehicle was pulled out of the pond, police found Hoopingarner in the driver's seat of the vehicle still wearing his seat belt. The car had been submerged upside down in the freezing water overnight. Gaff reported Hoopingarner likely died quickly as a result of breathing in pond water and debris.
The two 15-year-old Syracuse boys who had been in Hoopingarner's vehicle with him fled from the scene, leaving Hoopingarner to die in his 1987 Honda Civic.
