SEYMOUR, Ind. – Republican state Rep. Jim Lucas drove nearly three miles away from a crash scene, with three busted tires, after he allegedly struck a guardrail and drove the wrong way on an interstate entrance ramp last week, according to a new Indiana State Police (ISP) report.
Lucas, R-Seymour, was arrested and booked into Jackson County Jail after the crash. Police suspect the lawmaker was intoxicated when the incident occurred. Lucas has not yet commented on what happened.
A witness called ISP just after midnight on May 31 about a vehicle that had struck a guardrail and “traveled the wrong way” on an I-65 ramp, near State Road 11, per the crash report obtained by the Indiana Capital Chronicle.
Police said in the crash report that the truck was gone by the time they arrived. They immediately spotted a badly damaged guardrail along the interstate, as well as tire tracks, plastic vehicle debris, and a trail of fluid that went north on I-65 before heading south in the wrong direction on the entrance ramp from State Road 11.
Shortly after, a Seymour police officer found a 2012 Toyota Tundra with “extensive front end damage and three tires missing” parked behind Carpet Gallery — a local carpet and flooring business — on State Road 11, north of Seymour. That is about 2.8 miles south of the crash site.
An officer also found Lucas walking nearby, across State Road 11. Lucas initially “refused to answer questions,” but he later told a state trooper that “he swerved to miss a deer and lost control” of his truck. According to the crash report, Lucas also said he “believed he could make it home, and that is why he left the crash scene and continued to drive for several miles with three flat tires.”
When asked why he parked behind the carpet business, Lucas reportedly told officers that “he did not want to leak oil in front of the business” because he was concerned that could cause the business to “lose customers.”
State police said the suspect smelled of alcohol. “Clues” from a field sobriety test and “the odor of an alcoholic beverage” coming from Lucas led police to believe he was intoxicated. The state lawmaker was taken to a local hospital for a blood draw.
According to the crash report, the truck had heavy front-end damage to the grill and bumper, no tires on the front driver’s side or rear passenger’s side, and the front passenger’s side tire was blown out but still attached to the wheel. The truck’s rims were worn down too, and grass and dirt debris were stuck to the underside of the trailer hitch.
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