Pulaski County Man Arrested Following Traffic Accident

Pulaski County Sheriff's Department

The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department investigated two personal injury accidents Sunday night, one of which resulted in an arrest.

A Wheatfield woman was injured in a single vehicle accident at 6:52 p.m. ET on State Road 39 near County Road 400 North. Shannon Conley’s vehicle reportedly left the right side of the roadway and she lost control of the vehicle when it came back onto the paved surface. The vehicle slid sideways, back off the roadway, before traveling through a barbed wire fence, down into a ditch, and into the water. She climbed out of the vehicle and waved down passing motorists for assistance. Conley sustained a head injury in the accident.

Approximately two hours later, police were called to a two vehicle accident on U.S. 35 by the Broken Arrow Campground. Cindie Cassebaum, 62, of Chesterton, told police that she was in the northbound lane waiting to turn into the campground when Steven Taylor, of Knox, struck the rear of her vehicle. Taylor reportedly told police that he must have dozed off and ran into Cassbaum’s vehicle. A passenger in Cassebaum’s vehicle, Donna Veden, also of Chesterton, was taken for immediate medical attention by the Samaritan Helicopter.

Taylor allegedly told police that he had taken pain pills a day prior and they could still be in his system. He also said that he did not have a current prescription for the pain medication he had taken. Taylor, 43, was arrested on a preliminary charge of Driving While Suspended Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury.