INDIANAPOLIS — An improperly secured box spring mattress on top of an SUV caused a serious crash on I-65 Wednesday afternoon that sent three people to the hospital and thousands of dollars in damages.
Emergency crews were called to the scene of a serious wreck on I-65 northbound at the 101-mile marker around 4:20 p.m. When officers arrived, they found three heavily damaged cars and three people with injuries.
Police say the SUV was heading northbound on I-65 with the mattress on its roof and was being followed by another driver who was a friend of the driver in the SUV. When the mattress fell off of the roof, it landed in the center lane of the interstate. The driver of the passenger car also stopped in the center lane behind the mattress and the driver of the SUV pulled over onto the right shoulder.
That's when the driver of the SUV got out of the vehicle, ran across the lanes to retrieve the mattress and the driver of the car also got out to help. As they were trying to pick up the mattress, another car heading north came along and hit the back of the friend's car that had stopped in the middle lane. That collision caused the parked car to hit the two drivers who were retrieving the mattress.
A third car drove by just after the first collision and struck the two crash vehicles that were in the roadway. The two drivers who were hit, both men, along with another driver, were all taken to area hospitals.
Their conditions are unknown at this time.
The crash remains under investigation.
