A North Carolina truck driver was killed on Wednesday afternoon, November 11, 2026, when his tractor-trailer left the northbound lanes of Interstate 65 near Columbus, Indiana, struck a guardrail and came to rest in trees beside the highway, the Indiana State Police (ISP) said in a news release reported on Thursday.
Source: The Trucker, Nov. 12, 2026 (reporting the Indiana State Police release)
The crash happened at about 4:15 p.m. near the 73-mile marker on northbound I-65 in northern Bartholomew County, just north of Columbus. Witnesses reported seeing the truck travel off the roadway, according to the state police account carried by The Trucker and by Columbus-area local radio news.
Source: Mojo 102.9 / Korn Country local news, Columbus, Indiana, Nov. 12, 2026
The driver was found unresponsive in the cab
The state police said the rig was a 2020 Volvo tractor pulling a loaded trailer. It struck the guardrail before leaving the east side of the roadway and stopping in the trees along the east side of I-65. Police photographs released from the scene show the trailer off the pavement and into the tree line, with emergency lights reflecting off its rear doors.
Witnesses and the first responders who reached the truck found the driver unresponsive inside the cab. He was given immediate medical attention at the scene, but he was pronounced deceased there by the Bartholomew County Coroner's Office. ISP identified him as Anthony Bull, 60, of Charlotte, North Carolina. No other vehicles were involved in the crash, local reporting of the ISP account said.
A medical episode may have contributed, police say — the cause is not settled
The Indiana State Police is investigating the wreck. In the account reported by Columbus-area radio, investigators said a medical episode may have contributed to the crash. That is an early investigative possibility, not a final finding: ISP has not announced a cause, and the investigation was continuing on Thursday. Single-vehicle run-off-road crashes are investigated step by step — the driver's condition, the truck's mechanical state and the roadway evidence are all examined before troopers settle on what happened.
The road: a main north–south freight corridor
Interstate 65 is one of the Midwest and South's principal north–south trucking corridors, running from the Chicago–Gary area through Indianapolis and Louisville and on through Nashville toward Alabama. The stretch through Bartholomew County, south of Indianapolis, carries heavy long-haul freight traffic day and night, including many drivers from the Punjabi diaspora who run Midwestern and cross-country routes. Columbus, the Bartholomew County seat, sits at the southern end of this stretch; the 73-mile marker is on the county's northern side. The crash investigation and cleanup affected northbound traffic on I-65 for more than three hours on Wednesday evening, local reports said.
The Indiana State Police investigation is continuing and no final cause has been released. The Bartholomew County Coroner's Office pronounced the driver deceased at the scene. Drivers planning the Indianapolis–Louisville run should check Indiana traffic advisories before travelling, as investigation and cleanup work after a fatal crash can affect a corridor long after the first report.
For the trucking community that uses I-65 every day, the loss is a familiar and sobering one: a 60-year-old driver who set out on a loaded run and did not come home. Awaaz Punjab's account is based on the Indiana State Police release as reported by The Trucker and by Columbus-area local news on November 12; it will be updated if ISP releases its final findings.