Three Ball State University students sat in a silent car before sunrise, waiting in traffic to turn onto I-69 from state Route 28 when a tractor-trailer slammed into them from behind.
"We were just sitting there and there was nothing that we could do [because] we were just waiting in a line of cars," Kelley Wise said.
Seniors Wise, Cassie Marquis and Lindsay D. Scott were hospitalized Tuesday after the accident at 7:15 a.m., according to state police. Scott and Wise were released Tuesday afternoon from Ball Memorial Hospital, but Marquis was in fair and stable condition at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, hospital officials said.
While the other women were in the front seats, Marquis was in the back when the tractor-trailer hit the car, Wise said. Marquis was pinned in the 2006 Pontiac until firefighters cut her out, and she was flown by LifeLine to Indianapolis with multiple injuries, according to a police statement. Specifics about her condition are unknown.
The tractor-trailer driver, Troy Striegal of Wisconsin Matthews, Ind., was not injured, according to police. State Route 28 was blocked off for an hour while the accident was cleared.
Scott's Pontiac was totaled in the accident, and no alcohol was involved, police said.
The women carpool to student teach at Edgewood Elementary School in Elwood, where Scott teaches third grade. Wise teaches fourth grade and Marquis teaches fifth grade, Wise said.
She said she hoped they would stay positive and continue student teaching so they can graduate, but they are worried about Marquis because she is still in the hospital.
"Our main concern is Cassie right now," Wise said. "We want to make sure she's OK."
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