NEW CARLISLE, Ind.--- The New Prairie community is hurting Friday as it waits on bated breath for the status of the most injured student from Thursday's crash on US-20.
"Please pray"-- words taped to some downtown New Carlisle businesses Friday, not even 24 hours after a box truck crashed into two mini-buses full of players and coaches from the New Prairie Junior Varsity baseball team.
"It's a big shock that something like this could happen to a small community. Everyone knows everyone in the town, and our school community is just very close," said resident Dana Groves.
Seven student athletes and two coaches were injured in the crash. One student,16-year-old Lucas Bradshaw, was airlifted to the hospital. The baseball team asked for prayers in a Facebook post.
"We're a real tight community, and I've coached most of these boys for a decade, up through Little League and, when I heard it was their baseball team's bus that got hit, you know, all I could think about were all these families," said resident Michael Skaggs.
St. Joseph County police responded to reports of a box truck driving erratically Thursday afternoon. Officers attempted to pull the truck over at the intersection of Timothy Road and State Road 2, but the driver fled. Officers chased the truck up to the county line and alerted the Laporte County Sheriff's Office.
It's unclear is LCSO picked up the chase, but deputies responded when the truck crashed at the intersection of US-20 and Fail Road, hitting a commercial vehicle and the two buses.
"It was a needless tragedy that shouldn't have happened," Groves said.
"Like the rest of the community, our prayers are with them," Skaggs said.
ABC57 looked into the driver, who has been arrested for this crash, 41-year-old Shawn Wesly Russell Akison, and found a history of traffic violations, including speeding and driving on a revoked license.