By Liz Shepherd
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — A Warsaw man airlifted from a Monday evening accident has died from his injuries.

Stephen L. Yeazel, 71, Warsaw, died Thursday, Aug. 12, days after being airlifted on Aug. 9 from a two-vehicle accident at the intersection of SR 15 and East Main Street in Warsaw.

Just before 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 9, Warsaw Police Department and Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office responded to the accident scene. Yeazel, who was driving a motorcycle, was found laying unconscious in the roadway.

According to police reports, Aswin S. Krishnan, 25, Warsaw, was driving north on SR 15 in a Nissan Rogue. Krishnan told officers as he approached the intersection, the traffic light turned red abruptly. Krishnan said he applied his brakes in an attempt to stop but was unable to. His vehicle struck the left side of Yeazel’s motorcycle in the intersection.

Both Krishnan and a passenger in his vehicle said that Krishnan was not on his phone.

Several witnesses provided statements on the accident. One witness was at the traffic light on Main Street, facing east at the intersection. They said their in-car camera recorded the incident. The witness said about six seconds passed between the light change and the time Krishnan entered the intersection. The witness also said Krishnan was holding a cellphone in his left hand and was still holding it after the crash occurred.

Another witness was stopped at the traffic light facing south on SR 15, near the Main Street intersection. They said the north-south traffic signal was red so they came to a stop. The witness said they were stopped for a long time when Krishnan’s vehicle entered the intersection, disregarding the traffic signal and hitting Yeazel’s motorcycle.

Yeazel was airlifted to Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne due to his injuries, where he later died.

Krishnan was cited for disregarding a traffic signal. He was taken to a local hospital for a consensual blood draw and then released.