Published: May 14, 2008 12:05 pm         

Wreck investigation continues

METEA — The Cass County Sheriff’s Department is still investigating a single-vehicle crash that left two injured early Saturday.

Officer Kevin Pruiett said alcohol appeared to have been a factor in the crash, but a determination was awaiting blood test results that likely wouldn’t be back for several weeks.

When Pruiett got to the scene crash about 1:25 a.m. Saturday, he found a vehicle on its top in a 20-foot deep drainage ditch with the engine engulfed in flames. He broke out the window to gain entry, but could not reach into the vehicle because of the flames.

Logansport and Lucerne fire departments extinguished the fire and confirmed that no one was inside the vehicle. Shortly afterward, another sheriff’s deputy found two people in the weeds of the ditch, about 50 yards from the burning vehicle.

Pruiett said he believed the passenger, 36-year-old Zack Dillard of Logansport, carried the driver, 35-year-old Paul Mainville, from the crash scene. Pruiett said Mainville was too badly injured to walk on his own.

An emergency medical helicopter landed at the scene to take Mainville to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne. Dillard was later flown from Logansport Memorial Hospital to the same Fort Wayne hospital.

Both have since been released from the hospital, according to a Parkview representative.

Kevin Lilly can be reached at (574) 732-5117, or via e-mail at kevin.lilly@pharostribune.com