INDIANAPOLIS — Court records show Indiana State Police Trooper Azariah Keith suffered a broken left leg, broken pelvis and a cut through his knee joint on his left leg after he was hit by a suspected drunk driver on Interstate 65 near downtown Indianapolis Saturday night.
Police said the crash happened moments after Keith helped a woman change her tire on the side of the interstate.
13News spoke to the stranded driver, Alicia Moore, who got a flat tire in the southbound lanes of I-65 near the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street exit.
"Cars were still flying by, so I started recording how close the cars were to me because I was terrified," Moore said.
She told 13News she was waiting for a tow truck to arrive when she noticed a police squad car.
"When he noticed me, he stopped his car," Moore said. "He asked me if I had a spare in my car because he said it’s dangerous to sit right here. I said, 'I know, I’m terrified. Cars are riding very close.' I just kept saying that, and he kept saying how it wasn’t safe to be right there."
Moore made it home safely on a spare tire but didn't hear about Keith's injuries until the next day.
"That could've been me in the midst of that as well," Moore said. "I was instantly heartbroken."
Court records show Keith was near the trunk of his squad car on the left shoulder when the suspect, later identified as 22-year-old Armaandeep Singh, nearly hit a different trooper's car blocking the left lane, lost control, hit the median and hit Keith. Police arrested Singh at the scene.
Police told 13News doctors are hopeful Keith will make a full recovery.
"When I got the initial phone call Saturday night, it was a grim message, he was not well. I’m thankful that it’s not as bad as what we were originally hearing, but it’s certainly bad. It’s going to change his life forever," ISP Sgt. John Perrine said. "He’s forever affected by the decision somebody else made, and that’s what’s hard about this. With his servant heart, he was out there in below-zero temperatures changing a tire for somebody, and somebody who made a choice, made a decision to drive, allegedly impaired, has now changed this trooper’s life forever."
Moore said she stopped by the hospital to meet Keith's family and show her gratitude.
"They took me to the room with his wife and daughter and family that was there. I gave her the gifts I had gotten for him, and then, I just introduced myself and told her who I was and told her I was thankful for the help," Moore said. "Every chance I get, I’m definitely going to thank him because I do feel like he saved me that day. He didn’t have to stop and change my tire, that was something that he did on his own. He could’ve waited for the tow truck, and I would’ve still been sitting there."
Singh is being held at the Marion County jail on a $30,000 surety bond. Prosecutors formally charged him Jan. 23 with two counts of causing serious bodily injury when operating a vehicle while intoxicated and one count of reckless driving causing bodily injury.
Singh had his initial court hearing Tuesday morning.