Jasper County sheriff's vehicle involved in head-on wreck

JASPER COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) - An Indiana State Police vehicle got totaled in a wreck Monday afternoon in Jasper County.

ISP Sgt. Ann Wojas says troopers were dispatched to a crash on State Road 14 (roughly 3.5 miles west of State Road 421) at about 1:20 p.m. Monday.

The crash was between a pickup truck and a semi-marked Jasper County police car.

Investigation shows the car (which was semi-marked because it had no top lights) was a Jasper County Sheriff’s Office car driven by 60-year-old Joe Kopanda.

Kopanda is a nine-year veteran of the County Correctional Division. His car was eastbound on SR 14 when it came upon some slower-moving grain trucks.

The car went into the westbound (oncoming) lane to see if it could pass safely but due to slick roads and low visibility, Kopanda failed to see a pickup truck heading for him. The pickup and the car hit head-on.

The driver of the pickup, 53-year-old Dennis W. Flippo Junior, was taken to the Jasper County Hospital in Rensselaer with complaints of pain, but he was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.

Kopanda had to be extricated from his vehicle and was taken to Jasper County Hospital with lower leg and rib injuries. He will be transported to Indiana University Health Arnett Hospital in Lafayette. He was also wearing a seat belt.

Kopanda was transporting a prisoner at the time of the crash to Pulaski County Jail. The prisoner was seated in the back seat prisoner compartment and was not wearing a seat belt.

They were also taken to Jasper County Hospital with a serious head injury and later air lifted to Carle Hospital in Champaign, Illinois. Name will be withheld pending notification of family.