Sheriff's Department vehicle strikes pedestrian on near north side

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - A Marion County Sheriff's Department vehicle hit a pedestrian on the city's near north side Friday evening, police said.

Police said just after 6 p.m. Charles Hill, 38, and a 10-year-old girl were walking west in the 900 block of Fox Hill Drive - near Kessler Boulevard and Spring Mill Road - when the westbound Marion County Jail transport vehicle struck the man. Police said the driver of the vehicle realized he had hit someone, turned around, called 911 and tended to the victim until medics arrived.

The driver, Sheriff's Deputy Erich Gephart, 40, had just started work, police said, and was on his way to pick up a prisoner from Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

Hill, a Fox Hill Drive resident, was taken to IU Health Methodist Hospital in critical condition, police said. The girl was not injured.

Gephart is a five-year veteran of the Marion County Sheriff's Department. There was no indication that alcohol was involved in the accident, the Sheriff's Department said, but Gephart underwent a mandatory blood test and was placed on adminstrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is investigating.