8-year-old among 3 dead in Pike County chase leading to head-on crash

ARTHUR, Ind. (WISH) — A high-speed chase ended in a head-on collision Saturday night that killed two drivers and an 8-year-old girl in Pike County, the Indiana State Police said in a news release issued Monday afternoon.

The incident began at 7:42 p.m. Saturday on State Road 64 when a Pike County deputy was responding to a domestic violence call at the Country Junction gas station in the unincorporated community of Arthur. That’s about a 10-minute drive east of the Gibson County city of Oakland City.

State police investigators learned that a Pike County deputy was responding to a domestic violence call minutes before 7:45 p.m. Saturday at the Country Junction gas station near the intersection of state roads 61 and 64. He was driving with lights and sirens on, the release said.

As the deputy arrived at the gas station, a red Toyota Camry suspected to be involved in the domestic violence incident sped away from the gas station. The deputy saw the Camry driver run another motorist off the road while heading east. The Camry then blew through a flashing red light at the four-way stop at the state roads’ intersection.

When the deputy drew closer, the Camry driver crossed into the deputy’s lane and tried to ram the patrol car. The deputy avoided the hit, turned around, and chased the Camry.

The chase ended a short time later near Pike County Road 900 E, about 8 miles east of the gas station on State Road 64, when the Camry crossed the centerline and hit a Toyota Sienna head-on.

The driver of the Sienna, 41-year-old Amanda Wertman of the town of Winslow, died at the scene.

The driver of the Camry also died in the crash. The Pike County Coroner’s Office has not yet released the name of the Camry driver, the release said.

Four children were traveling in the Sienna with Wertman. All four were taken to local hospitals. Wertman’s 8-year-old daughter later died at a hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. The three other children are still in the hospital but were expected to recover.

The state police crash reconstruction team had not yet completed its investigation on Monday afternoon.

Pike County, with 12,250 residents, is about a 50-minute drive northeast of downtown Evansville in southern Indiana.

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