Authorities were
working this morning to identify a motorist who was killed late Thursday
night after crashing his car into the boulder at the entrance to Indiana
Dunes State Park.
According to Porter
County Coroner Chuck Harris, the crash occurred shortly before midnight,
when the driver of a 2013 Nissan Altima northbound on Ind. 49 and traveling
“at a high rate of speed veered off the road” and struck the large boulder
located in the grassy median just south of the old stone guardhouses at the
entrance to Dunes State Park.
The driver was
pronounced dead at the scene of blunt force injuries, Harris said. The
Porter County Sheriff’s Police is investigating the crash and a routine
toxicology screen will be conducted, he added.
Also responding to
the accident was the Porter Fire Department, which performed extrication of
the driver, Fire Chief Jay Craig told the Chesterton Tribune this
morning. Craig said that the Nissan struck the boulder head on with
sufficient force to push it backwards some two to three feet.
The driver was
wearing his seatbelt and the Nissan’s airbag did deploy, Craig noted.
Prior to the
arrival of the PFD--which was battling a house fire on Woodlawn Ave. until
just after midnight--the Chesterton FD responded to Dunes State Park and
held the scene until relieved.