Gary, Lake County-An early morning crash, this Saturday, May 31, 2014 morning, left one person dead and another seriously injured.
Preliminary investigation by Trooper Gary Runde and Probationary Officer Justin Heflin revealed that after midnight a 2007 International straight truck loaded with a 300 gallon water tank, owned by C.E. Hughes out of Jeffersonville, Indiana, had broken down and was disabled on the outer shoulder of I-80/94 east bound at the 8.1 mile marker (this is approximately one mile west of Grant Street) with an electrical problem. Duane Yonts, 51 of Austin, Indiana, driving a 2012 Chevrolet Silverado pick-up, also owned by C.E. Hughes, picked the driver up (co-worker) from the disabled straight truck and took that driver to a motel in Portage that they were staying at.
Yonts returned to the straight truck to attempt to fix it. Emergency triangles were put out behind Yonts pick-up and the disable straight truck. Yonts eventually called Midnight Blue Towing out of Crown Point when he could not fix the problem. Midnight Blue Towing arrived and the driver, Jamie Carr 37 of Crown Point was outside of the tow truck, at approximately 4:40 a.m., hooking the straight truck up to the tow truck when a 2005 Chevrolet Impala that was east bound left the roadway for unknown reasons, drove over the emergency triangles, hit the Silverado pick-up in the driver’s door, and then went under the rear of the straight truck.
Yonts was not inside his pick-up at the time of the crash but standing off the roadway near the tow truck.
Neither he nor Carr was injured.
The driver of the Impala was pronounced dead at the scene by the Lake County Coroner of massive blunt force trauma. The front seat passenger in the Impala had to be extricated from the vehicle. The passenger was airlifted from the scene and taken to Advocate Christ Medical in Oak Lawn, Illinois with serious injuries. Names are being withheld pending notifications to the families.
All lanes east bound and west bound on I-80/94 were closed for a short time for landing/take off of the air ambulance. The right and right center lanes are closed for reconstruction of the crash, removal of the deceased and injured, towing of the vehicles, and clean-up of the scene.
Assisting: ISP Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division Trooper Tim Grayson and Sergeant Wanda Clay, Trooper Lawrence McFarrin, Master Trooper Jeff Council, Trooper Arthur Latiker, Lake County Sheriff’s Department, Gary Police, Fire and EMS, and Indiana Department of Transportation
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Pictures are of the scene.
All criminal defendants are to be presumed innocent until, and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
