By Sophia Voravong
svoravong@journalandcourier.com

A standout wrestler at McCutcheon High School was critically injured early Friday when he fell out of a moving vehicle in southwest Tippecanoe County, police suspect.

Though details are sketchy, it appears that 17-year-old Marty Thayer was sitting on the outer edge of the back seat of a 1995 Jeep driven by Drew Burgess, 18, of Lafayette, when he fell out of the moving vehicle.

Alcohol may have been a factor.

Lt. Rick Blacker of the Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Department said the incident happened sometime before 1 a.m. Friday at county roads 800 South and 700 West near West Point.

But police did not become aware of Thayer's injuries until he was later dropped off at another friend's house on Poland Hill Road about 1:16 a.m.

Thayer, a senior a McCutcheon, was listed in critical but stable condition Friday night at Home Hospital.

According to sheriff's Maj. Tracy Brown, Lafayette police who were called to the Poland Hill address said Thayer appeared to have been injured in a car crash.

Sheriff's deputy Shane Howard was later able to track down and question Burgess, who said Thayer fell from the Jeep. Howard spent Friday afternoon investigating the incident and determined that it happened as Burgess was driving his Jeep east on 800 South.

Though his blood-alcohol content tested below 0.08 percent, the legal limit to drive in Indiana, Burgess was cited for operating a vehicle with a BAC above 0.02 percent because he is a minor.

Brown said police plan to interview another teen who was riding in the Jeep.