Man dies in crash with Ripley County Highway Department dump truck

NAPOLEON, Ind. (WISH) — An Osgood man died in a Saturday morning crash with a Ripley County Highway Department dump truck on U.S. 421, Indiana State Police says.

Norman P. Kappes, 53, was driving a 2000 Jeep vehicle northbound about 9 a.m. Saturday on the highway when he crossed the centerline south of Michigan Road in Ripley County. That’s just south of the town of Napoleon, which is about a 65-mile drive southeast of downtown Indianapolis.

Kappes died at the crash scene.

The Jeep collided “nearly head on” with a 2015 Kenworth dump truck owned by the Ripley County Highway Department, the state police said in a news release issued late Saturday afternoon. The dump truck driver, Timothy M. Sides, 49, of Versailles, was not injured in the crash.

U.S. 421 was closed about five hours for the investigation and cleanup.

Alcohol nor drugs were believed to be factors, but toxicology tests on both drivers were pending.