A Calumet City,
Ill., trucker who failed to stop for a backup died Monday in a fiery crash
on the Indiana Toll Road in LaPorte County, the Indiana State Police said.
The victim was
identified as Kwame L. Lawson, 36.
According to
police, at 3:16 p.m. Lawson was eastbound on the Toll Road, two miles east
of the U.S. Highway 421 exit, when he drove into the rear of a second semi
stopped in traffic. Lawson’s International tractor caught fire and quickly
became engulfed, police said, and he was subsequently pronounced dead at the
scene.
The driver of the
second semi, Orville McDougall, 38, of Riviera Beach, Fla., sustained
non-life threatening injuries and was transported to Franciscan St. Anthony
Health in Michigan City.
Lawson was hauling
paper goods, police said, and the left eastbound lane of the Toll Road was
closed for several hours after the crash for cleanup, investigation, and
offloading the paper.
ISP was warning
motorists to expect delays and to seek alternate routes, as ongoing roadwork
seven miles east of the crash site--where two lanes are pinched to one--is
causing regular congestion.