Preston Jett,Landon Shaffer Obituary, Death; – Two individuals lost their lives when a speeding pickup truck collided with two buildings in the 1700 block of Jackson Street early Tuesday morning, following a police pursuit that originated in Alexandria.
The two occupants of the pickup were pronounced dead, one at the scene and the other at a local hospital. They were later identified as Preston Jett, 20, from Marion, and Landon Shaffer, 17, also from Marion. A third occupant was reported to be in critical condition at an Indianapolis hospital on Tuesday, according to Anderson police.
Authorities had not disclosed the names of the pickup occupants on Tuesday, pending autopsies and notification of their relatives. The police chase commenced when Alexandria police attempted to stop the pickup on suspicion of driving under the influence, criminal recklessness, and reckless driving at approximately 2 a.m. Tuesday near the intersection of Washington Street and North Park Avenue in Alexandria.
According to Anderson police, the pickup was traveling southbound—against the one-way northbound traffic on Jackson Street—between Sixth and 17th streets—“at a high rate of speed” before crashing into the buildings located in the 1700 block.
The driver reportedly lost control of the vehicle, which left the roadway, struck a utility pole and two houses, and ultimately came to rest overturned on the roadway.
The pursuit concluded approximately 12 miles from its starting point in Alexandria, although it remained unclear on Tuesday evening which streets were involved and any potential changes in direction during the chase.
Later on Tuesday morning, after emergency personnel had cleared the crash site, debris including splintered wood beams, shards of glass, and even a pair of shoes were scattered across the front yard of one of the buildings, which contains apartments.
Tony Carter, a resident of one of the apartments, was awakened by the crash at 2 a.m.
“It sounded like a truck crashing through here, and then you heard, ‘boom, boom, boom, BOOM!’” he recounted. “Everyone came out,” he noted, observing that it seemed the driver of the pickup had died.
“I’m not certain if (another person) was ejected, but he was screaming for about 35 minutes about his legs being broken.”
The crash took place about a half mile from the campus of Ascension St. Vincent Anderson Hospital.
Carter, who estimated that about 40 officers were on the scene after the accident, wondered whether police should have taken more precautions to keep the pickup from speeding 12 miles from Alexandria into an Anderson neighborhood.
“They should have done a better job of shutting it down,” he said.
Pillars were torn from the front of the small apartment building’s porch. Photos on social media showed the front of a house next to the apartment building caved in. Tires, twisted metal and other debris littered the yard.
In another photo, the smashed remains of the vehicle are nearly unrecognizable as a pickup truck.
A city building inspector stopped by the apartment building Tuesday afternoon, telling Carter, reportedly, that braces would be installed to keep the roof over the porch from falling.
Michael W. Looper owns a home adjacent to Jackson and 17th streets, next to the badly damaged house.
Looper was sleeping soundly when he heard a loud boom. He rushed to the room where his 16-year-old son was sleeping to wake him.
“It was more like a boom shake. It was a frightening boom,” he said.
“I stepped out for a minute and then came back because the police had put the tape and stuff up. You could see the truck down there, but it didn’t look as bad as it did when they put it on the tow truck.
“It split in half, I think.”
Looper said the outside wall at the front of the home served as something of a safety buffer. “If that wall wasn’t there, they would have gotten into my house,” he noted. Looper, a disabled widower, said that he’ll have to pay a $1,000 deductible before his insurance company will cover the cost of repairing the damage.
As residents and property owners at the crash scene assess the damage and figure the related costs, questions remain about how fast the pickup and the chasing squad cars were traveling, and whether officers followed protocol.
Alexandria police have asked Anderson police, as an outside agency, “for transparency,” to investigate the chase and crash.
