Motorcycle wreck tosses driver; Man pulls driver from burning truck in 2nd wreck

VALLONIA - A Bartholomew County man was injured when he wrecked his motorcycle Wednesday morning in Driftwood Township.

"He's a lucky guy," Jackson County Sheriff's Department Officer Mike Carothers said of Michael Dutton, 59, Elizabethtown. "He was wearing helmet and goggles, but he was conscious and alert when we arrived. His injuries could have been much worse."

And Jennings County Sheriff's Department credited on Wednesday a rural Seymour man with pulling a driver from a burning truck that wrecked Tuesday.

Dutton was taken to Columbus Regional Hospital for treatment of facial and hand injuries.

"His nose and chin were skinned up, and he had a broken finger," Carothers said. "A bone was through one finger."

Police said Dutton was southbound on Indiana 135 when he went off the road around 9:47 a.m. and struck a guardrail. The motorcycle flipped end over end, throwing off Dutton.

Jackson County EMS took Dutton to Schneck Medical Center at Seymour for treatment. He was later moved to CRH.

Officer Bob Cummings assisted with the investigation. Driftwood Township firefighters also assisted at the scene.

Jennings wreck

A rural Seymour man pulled a 67-year-old Jennings County man from his burning truck Tuesday evening, police say.

According to a report from Jennings County Officer Jason Bliton, Robert A. Trimble of North Vernon lost control of his 1986 Chevrolet truck as he drove west on County Road 100N near the Jennings County-Jackson County line.

The truck struck a fence and bushes before flipping over and landing on its top in a yard with Trimble still inside, police said.

David Sandhage of rural Seymour, who owns the property where the wreck occurred, was able to pull Trimble out of the vehicle to safety, Bliton said.

Sandhage could not be reached for comment.

Trimble refused medical treatment and was arrested for operating while intoxicated refusal. He was booked into the Jennings County Jail in Vernon at 8:07 p.m. Tuesday and was being held on $850 bond.