LEESBURG – A Warsaw man was airlifted in critical condition from a one-vehicle accident near Leesburg Tuesday, while his passenger was hospitalized in serious condition. Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Deputies and emergency personal responded shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday to a 911 call of a single vehicle crash on County Road 150 West, just south of County Road 400 North. Officers found a yellow 2011 Chevrolet Camaro that had been severely damaged after apparently striking a wooden fence as well as a tree, according to a release from KCSD. The driver, identified as Michael S. Thomas, 29, Warsaw, was found pinned inside the wreckage, suffering from a severe head injury. He was extricated and immediately flown to Parkview Regional Medical Center in critical condition. A passenger in the vehicle, Joseph G. Haupert, 20, Claypool, was removed and transported to Lutheran Hospital, Fort Wayne, in serious condition, also with head injuries. Thomas was still listed in critical condition this morning. Haupert was discharged from Lutheran as of this morning. Kosciusko County Fatal Alcohol Crash Team members said in the release that initial investigations have determined that Thomas’s vehicle was northbound on County Road 150 West when, for an unknown reason, it left the east side of the roadway, striking a fence, several wooden posts and eventually impacting a tree. Witnesses told officers at the scene that the vehicle appeared to have been travelling at a high rate of speed prior to losing control. The crash is still under investigation. The FACT team was assisted at the scene by the Leesburg/Plain Township Fire Department, Warsaw/Wayne Township Fire Territory, Multi-Township EMS and the county sheriff’s department.
Updated 10:24 a.m. 4.16.2014 as medical condition became available.
