A Porter woman and a Merrillville man died this weekend of injuries sustained when the motorcycle on which they were riding Saturday night struck a tree on Brummitt Road in Westchester Township.

The Porter County Sheriff’s Police has identified the victims as passenger Mary E. Martin, 40, of 1909 1/2 Broadway in Porter, and driver Gregory A. Bruner, 34, of Merrillville.

According to police, at 9:01 p.m. Bruner was southbound on Brummitt, south of Mar Mar Loop, when he failed to negotiate a curve, left the roadway on the west side, and struck a tree in the front yard at 1284 N. Brummitt. Police said that the 1998 Harley-Davidson Dana Glide-owned by Martin-then rotated clockwise into another tree and a wooden post used to hold equipment for a sanitary sewer lift station.

Police said that both Martin and Bruner were ejected from the motorcycle and that neither was wearing a helmet.

A spokesperson for Porter County Coroner Roger Kleist told the Chesterton Tribune today that Martin never regained consciousness and died at 9:54 p.m. at Porter Memorial Hospital. The cause of death has been listed as exsanguination caused by damage to the aorta.

Police said that Bruner did regain consciousness while en route to PMH and that he answered in the affirmative when asked by EMS personnel whether he had been driving the motorcycle and whether he had been drinking prior the crash. Kleist’s spokesperson said that Bruner died in surgery at 1:27 a.m. Sunday. The cause of death has been listed as exsanguination caused by damage to the ileac artery and hemorrhage due to a fractured pelvis.

Police said that Bruner registered a blood alcohol content of .119 percent on a blood test.

Motorists in Indiana are considered legally intoxicated when they score a B.A.C. of .08 percent or higher.

A full obituary for Martin appears elsewhere in this edition of the Tribune.

Posted 6/1/2004