Hammond Man Killed After Car Hits Disabled Truck In Gary
GARY, Ind. (STMW) -- A northwest Indiana man is dead and his passenger was seriously injured after the car he was driving crashed into a disabled straight-truck early Saturday on eastbound Interstate 80/94 near Grant Street in Gary, Ind., the Post-Tribune is reporting.
The crash occurred about 4:40 a.m. Saturday where Midnight Blue Towing of Crown Point was securing a straight-truck disabled on the outer shoulder to its tow truck, according to a statement from Indiana State Police. A second vehicle, a Chevy Silverado owned by the trucking company, was also on the shoulder at the time.
Emergency triangles had been placed behind the pickup and the disabled straight-truck, which was loaded with a 300-gallon water tank, police said.
The truck originally broke down around midnight due to an electrical problem, police said. An employee from the trucking company arrived in the Silverado to attempt to fix the problem and tow truck was called when a repair could not be made.
The driver of the tow truck was outside of his vehicle hooking up the straight-truck when a 2005 Chevy Impala traveling east on the interstate left the roadway for unknown reasons, drove over the emergency triangles, hit the Silverado pickup in the driver's door and then went under the rear of the straight truck, police said.
The driver of the Impala, Anthony Deon Easter Sr., 42, of the 4900 block of Beech Avenue in Hammond, was pronounced dead at the scene by the Lake County Coroner of massive blunt force trauma, authorities said.
The front seat passenger in the Impala had to be extricated from the car, police said. The passenger was airlifted and taken to Advocate Christ Medical in Oak Lawn, Ill., with serious injuries,
The driver of the Silverado was standing off the roadway near the tow truck at the time. Neither he, nor the tow truck driver was injured, police said.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2014. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)