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Indiana trooper leaves hospital after struck by SUV on I-65

Indiana trooper Azariah Keith out of hospital

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indiana State Police trooper Azariah Keith was back home Monday night.

He’d spent more than two weeks in Eskenazi Hospital after getting hit by an SUV on the I-65 southbound while helping someone change a tire. State police say he suffered extensive injuries.

Around 8:45 p.m. Jan. 20, Keith was pulled over to help a pedestrian change a flat tire along the left side of I-65 southbound near 30th Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street. Another trooper responded to block off the left lane and regulate traffic. Keith finished helping change the tire about half an hour later.

As he was putting his equipment back in his trunk, a 2018 Chevrolet Equinox approached the scene at a high rate of speed. State Police said in a release issued Jan. 21 that the Equinox “swerved around the trooper who was blocking the left lane, lost control, and crashed into the concrete median, struck (Keith), then (Keith’s) police car.”

On Monday, state troopers helped carry trooper Keith’s personal items as he was wheeled out of the hospital.

Keith says he’s ready to get home to his wife and two young children.

State police say he has a long road to recovery but remains optimistic and in good spirits.

The driver of the Equinox, 22-year-old Armaandeep Singh of Indianapolis, was charged Jan. 23 in Marion Superior Court 21 with two felony counts of OWI causing serious bodily injury and a misdemeanor count of reckless driving causing bodily injury. His next court hearing has been set for April 16.

Singh on Monday afternoon remained in the Marion County jail on a federal immigration hold, online documents show.

This story was created in part from a script aired on WISH-TV.

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