At approximately 11:20 p.m. on Wednesday, March 3, the Spencer County Sheriff’s Department began receiving 911 calls of a wrong-way driver on Interstate 64 driving east in the westbound lanes. Callers advised that the vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed and almost hit multiple vehicles head-on.
Crawford County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Reyling located the vehicle at the 79-mile marker and attempted to stop it. The vehicle continued east at a high rate of speed, passing multiple vehicles. Indiana State Trooper Christopher Rainey parked his vehicle at the 86 mile marker and placed his vehicle broadside blocking both lanes of travel. Fortunately, the wrong way vehicle stopped less than 45 feet from Trooper Rainey’s vehicle. Deputy Reyling and Trooper Rainey then made contact with the driver, Kevin S. Degraff, 54, of Edwardsburg, MI, and immediately noticed that Degraff appeared to be intoxicated. Degraff was belligerent and resisted arrest, causing officers to restrain him with the Marengo and English Town Marshals’ help. Degraff was transported to a local hospital, where officers obtained a warrant for a chemical test, which found that Degraff was over three times the legal limit of intoxication. Degraff was incarcerated in the Perry County Detention Center on multiple felony charges. Charges will also be forwarded to Spencer, Dubois, and Crawford counties.
Without a group effort by all officers involved, the incident may have turned tragic.
