DARKE COUNTY – On Friday, at approximately 7:21 AM, the Darke County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call reporting a vehicle fire and possible crash in the 2400 block of SR 49. Arcanum Fire, Arcanum Rescue, Pitsburg Fire, Darke County Sheriff’s deputies and Arcanum Police Department responded to the scene.
Initial arriving responders discovered a three-vehicle crash with two vehicles fully engulfed in flames. City of Greenville Fire Department, Greenville Township EMS and CareFlight were also called to the scene.
Preliminary investigation revealed that a full-size cargo van pulling a trailer was traveling north on SR 49 with two adult male occupants when it crossed the centerline and struck a southbound 2023 Chevrolet medical transport bus being operated by Chris Bemis (63) of St. Marys. The bus contained one juvenile passenger and an aide, identified as Bonnie Behee (62) of New Madison.
After striking the bus the cargo van continued north, hitting a 2013 Dodge sedan being operated by Kenadie Hensley (18) of Arcanum. The cargo van and sedan both caught fire and Hensley was able to immediately escape her vehicle. The two male occupants in the cargo van were found deceased in the vehicle.
Behee and the juvenile passenger in the transport bus were removed, treated and transported to Wayne HealthCare by EMS with non-life threatening injuries. Chris Bemis, driver of the transport bus, was trapped in the vehicle and had to be mechanically extricated from the bus by Fire/ Rescue. He was transported to Miami Valley Hospital by CareFlight where he died from his injuries.
Hensley was treated at the scene by EMS and released.
The Darke County Coroner’s Office and Darke County Sheriff’s Office Traffic Crash Reconstruction team are actively investigating this crash. The identification of the two occupants of the cargo van are pending examination and testing by the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office.
SR 49 was closed for approximately 5 hours during the investigation.
