Officials from the Greenfield Fire Territory put out and are investigating a fire at Luwi Conrad Edmeade’s house, 2700 block of Winding Creek Lane, the same night Edmeade was accidently hit by a Hancock County Sheriff’s Department deputy who had been called to see about a man walking in the middle of the road on County Road North 600W.
HANCOCK COUNTY — Law enforcement officials investigating an accident where a man died after being struck by a Hancock County Sheriff’s Department deputy last week are nearly done with their work, New Palestine Deputy Marshal Shawn Brady said.
Brady, who is handling the investigation for The Hancock County Fatal Accident Crash Team, said the man who died in the crash Thursday has been identified as Luwi Conrad Edmeade, 41, Greenfield.
The initial crash report involving a deputy who was looking for a person described as needing a welfare check, but ended with the deputy running into the man on a rainy, foggy night, has been completed and submitted to state officials.
Brady said the report does show Edmeade was laying perpendicular to the way the road runs, with his head near the center line toward the lane dividers when he was accidentally hit by the deputy around 4 a.m. January 25.
“You can see in the video the man was lying across the road and the deputy strikes him, and if you slow the video down, you can see the man raise his hand slightly, so we do know he was alive,” Brady said. “Unfortunately, there was no avoiding what occurred.”
Brady noted the time of night, along with the type of dark clothing Edmeade was wearing, coupled with a dense fog made it impossible for the deputy to see Edmeade until the deputy was right upon him.
“Speed, the manner of the way the deputy driving is not a factor in this accident,” Brady said. “This happened because of pedestrian action, lighting and weather.”
Officials spoke with a witness who had called 911 to report a man walking along CR North 600W near U.S. 40. The witness told Brady he rolled down his window and actually spoke to Edmeade a couple of different times, telling him he needed to get out of the road before he got hit.
“At that point, Edmeade was crouched down and so the driver turned around and illuminated Edmeade with his headlights so people could see him, and the witness who called the incident in ended up moving when he saw police coming,” Brady said.
Brady anticipates the cause of death, while not official yet, will be identified as blunt trauma as a result of the accident.
“We’re 99.9% sure that was the cause because there was no other cars in the area, and the man who was there had talked to him just prior to officials getting there,” Brady said.
Earlier the same night of the crash, officials from the Greenfield Fire Territory say they were called to the 2700 block of Winding Creek Lane, Greenfield, with reports of a home on fire.
The home, officials with the GFT said, belonged to Edmeade. However, no one was there when officials arrived.
“Right now, that fire is being investigated as a potential arson fire,” GFT public information officer Luke Eichholtz said. “It was a pretty high fire load, but our crews were able to do a quick search and no one was in there.”
Brady noted from the time of the fire call, around 12:08 a.m., to the time Edmeade was hit, officials had received at least one other call of a man walking along the road, but he was off of the roadway.
Officials say that while no first responder ever had a chance to talk with Edmeade, it is clear something was amiss with him that night.
Toxicology reports on Edmeade, something Brady needs to finish out the fatal accident report, will not be available for several weeks Brady said.
Brady did however note the deputy involved in the accident passed all drug and alcohol toxicology tests and has been cleared to return to work, and it is expected he will do so as soon as this week.
“He’s been cleared of any wrongdoing,” Brady said. “It was just a tragic accident.”
