A trucker was
killed early this morning in a four-vehicle accident on I-80/94 in Lake
County, the Indiana State Police said.
The trucker was
identified as Michael Northern, 53, of LaPorte. The semi was owned by
Kingsbury Elevator Incorporated out of Kingsbury, IN.
According to
police, at 1:15 a.m. Northern, pulling a grain hauler, was westbound on
I-80/94, just west of Cline Ave., when he failed to slow for traffic
congestion in a work zone and his rig struck a 1997 Ford Taurus in the
right-middle lane being driven by Shelton Slaughter, 21 of Sioux City, Iowa,
causing the Taurus to come to rest in the left-middle lane.
Northern next
struck a 2008 Nissan Altima in the right lane driven by Michael Bolden, 27,
of Hammond, causing the Nissan to rear-end a 2017 Kia Rio driven by Jennifer
Wieland, 41 of Homewood, Ill., police said. Bolden’s Altima came to rest in
the grassy area just north of the roadway and Wieland’s Kia on the outer
shoulder.
After hitting the
Nissan, Northern left the roadway to the north, where his rig overturned on
the grassy embankment and lost part of its load of corn seed. Northern was
subsequently pronounced dead at the scene by the Lake County Coroner’s
Office.
Slaughter was not
injured but his three passengers, complaining of pain, were transported to
Munster Community Hospital, police said; Bolden was transported to Methodist
Hospital Northlake Campus in Gary with non-life threatening injuries; and
Wieland refused treatment at the scene.
Traffic was getting
by on the inner shoulder only until approximately 6 a.m. when the left and
left middle lanes were reopened, police said. All lanes were re-opened at
approximately 7:10 a.m., although cleanup of the load loss will continue off
the interstate.