November 8, 2011 – Park City, KY – Questions continue to surface regarding the investigation and closure of a fatal crash that took place in September.
WAVE 3 has released a follow-up report regarding a fatal crash on west U.S. 31 in Barren County that occurred on September 15. The accident involved a vehicle driven by Nurcan Ceylan, 33, and a Kentucky State Police officer. Ceylan was traveling on the highway when 3 police cruisers sped past in the opposite direction.
One of the cruisers, driven by Trooper Jonathan Biven, slammed into the driver’s side of Ceylan’s vehicle. The impact caused Ceylan to suffer serious and eventually fatal internal injuries, while her passenger Samuel Parker sustained minor injuries.
Air rescue brought Ceylan to Hardin Memorial Hospital where she was later pronounced dead. Investigations into the circumstances of the crash began, and concluded with Trooper Biven returning to work 6 weeks later.
In the wake of the fatal crash, Parker is now raising questions into the evidence discovered in the accident. He doubts the initial traffic collision report, which claims the trooper drifted into their lane but never cites a reason for the drift. There are also vague reasons into why Biven crossed lanes, including “inattention” and “lack of control”.
The evidence and witnesses in the crash report are also questionable to Parker. Fellow troopers are involved in the investigation and the only witness listed was one of the other officers on duty in the trio of patrol cars. Parker claims there was at least 1 other civilian driver pulled off to the side of the road that could have been a witness.
Kentucky State Police state that they are putting forth every effort to investigate the fatal crash thoroughly. Trooper Biven is currently stationed as a public affairs officer.
Based on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s 2009 Kentucky Crash Statistics, there were 791 fatalities as a result of traffic accidents in Kentucky.
As a service to our readers, we will occasionally publish blogs about serious or fatal traffic accidents in our region. We do this to raise awareness of the types of conditions and factors that commonly lead to severe injuries or death as a result of Kentucky vehicle accidents.
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