LAFAYETTE, Ind. – North-central Indiana prosecutors have decided not to charge a farmer whose failure to stop a combine at an intersection caused an accident that killed three people.

Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Pat Harrington told the Journal & Courier (http://indy.st/UnARNG) that under prior Indiana Court of Appeals rulings, negligence in a wreck doesn’t amount to a criminal offense. He said 36-year-old Carl McFarland of West Point therefore won’t be charged in the Oct. 31 crash.

That crash near Lafayette killed 62-year-old Daniel Fox of Attica, his 40-year-old wife, Stacy Fox, and their 15-year-old daughter, Demara Fox, when their minivan drove under a spiked harvesting apparatus known as a cornhead attached to McFarland’s combine.

A Fox family spokesman said they’re glad McFarland won’t face charges because the fatalities were “just a horrible accident.”