The New Prairie community hosted a fundraiser this weekend to support Lucas Bradshaw, the baseball player seriously injured in a school bus crash back in May.
Volunteers served pulled pork dinners with potatoes, carrots, coleslaw, and a roll for a suggested $15 donation.
Local farmer Jeff Baltes donated the pork and helped organize the event.
Bradshaw has been in a care facility in Michigan for five weeks. His family says he’s now awake from a coma and beginning to speak.
He was the most seriously injured when a box truck hit the school minibus.
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A serious multi-vehicle crash occurred in LaPorte County, Indiana, on May 8, 2025, involving two New Prairie United School Corporation minibuses transporting the junior varsity baseball team to a game. The crash involved a box truck and a commercial motor vehicle in addition to the two school minibuses. The incident took place at the intersection of U.S. 20 and Fail Road.
Seven student-athletes and two coaches were injured in the crash. One student was airlifted to a regional hospital for treatment, while others received treatment at the scene or were transported to local hospitals. The baseball team confirmed that Lucas Bradshaw has a “long road to healing in front of him”. Volunteer junior varsity baseball coach and school board member Rich Shail also remained hospitalized with a fractured vertebrae and broken ribs.
The driver of the box truck, 41-year-old Shawn Wesly Russell Akison of Romeoville, Illinois, was arrested and faces charges of criminal recklessness. Police had attempted to stop the box truck before the crash due to Akison driving recklessly. Toxicology tests were pending following the crash. A fundraiser was held to support Lucas Bradshaw, who was in a care facility and is now awake from a coma and beginning to speak.
I pray for god. To lay his hands upon Lucas body and ĥeal him.