This story has been updated to correct the spelling of the suspect’s first name.
HANCOCK COUNTY – One person was killed in a two-car crash Tuesday afternoon at State Road 234 and County Road 600E.
The driver of one of the vehicles was arrested on suspicion of impaired driving.
The victim, Reno Cook, 22, New Castle, was a back-seat passenger in a 2003 Buick LaSabre driven by Iran Taylor, 21, of Indianapolis. According to the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department, the LaSabre, which was northbound on County Road 600E, entered the intersection at State Road 234 and drove into the path of a westbound 2015 Kia Forte driven by Madison Durham-Weston, 19, Greenfield.
The Forte struck the passenger side of the LaSabre. Witnesses told the county’s Fatal Accident Crash Team that the LaSabre had made its way past other northbound vehicles that had stopped for the stop sign at the intersection just before the crash, which occurred at about 3:25 p.m. Traffic on State Road 234 at that intersection does not have to stop.
Three passengers in the LaSabre were taken to hospitals for treatment of injuries: Christopher Hossman, 36, Anderson; Joshua Pope, 46, Mount Summit, and Bobby Evans, 57, Terre Haute. The extent of their injuries was not known.
Taylor tested positive for THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, and was jailed on a preliminary charge of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated causing death, a Level 4 felony, said Maj. Robert Campbell, chief deputy of the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department. Taylor also faces a charge of reckless homicide, a Level 5 felony, Campbell said.
Taylor was expected to make his first court appearance on Wednesday.
