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By JUSTIN PEEPER
A rural Keystone man suffered a head injury in Bluffton Sunday afternoon after a rolling sports-utility vehicle ran over his head.
Wells County EMS rushed Thomas W. Wyatt, 39, to Bluffton Regional Medical Center following the 11:20 a.m. accident. He was airlifted to Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne around 1 p.m.
Wyatt was listed in serious but stable condition at 10 a.m. Monday morning.
The freak accident occurred in the 800 block of South Johnson Street.
Two witnesses, Bill White and Michelle Davis, told police Wyatt was attempting to unhitch a pull-behind camper from a 2004 white Dodge Durango that had been parked in their driveway at 819 S. Johnson St., according to a report filed by patrolman Brent Archbold, the officer leading the investigation.
Wyatt was reportedly visiting the witnesses.
The vehicle-trailer had been backed into the driveway and was intentionally left in neutral to release pressure from the ball hitch so the two vehicles could be separated, police said. The vehicle was running.
As the trailer was released from the vehicle, it started to roll forward toward Johnson Street.
Witnesses told police Wyatt ran to the driver’s side door, opened it and attempted to reach into the vehicle to stop its forward motion.
As Wyatt tried to gain control, however, he fell to the street and rolled partially under the SUV.
The vehicle’s rear driver’s side tire ran over his head before the vehicle came to a stop in the middle of Johnson Street.
When police arrived moments later, several witnesses and bystanders were attending to Wyatt in the street.
White had moved the SUV into a driveway across the street to clear Johnson Street for police and EMS.
Police said Wyatt displayed signs of injury to his head and upper body.
Wyatt’s 11-year-old son was in the front passenger seat when the accident occurred, the report noted.
Bluffton firefighters were paged to set up a landing zone in a parking lot east of Bluffton Regional Medical Center for Lutheran Air.
The helicopter landed around 12:45 p.m. but took off again around 1 p.m.
Patrolman Chip Swindell assisted Archbold at the scene.
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