Alcohol, speed and slick roads were factors in a single-vehicle crash near LaCrosse that claimed life and sent another person to a South Bend hospital.
It happened just after 11 p.m. Tuesday on State Road 8 just east of 600 West, according to officials with the LaPorte County Sheriff’s Department. Deputies found a black 1999 Dodge Ram truck on its side and say a man and woman had been thrown from the vehicle. Neither were wearing seatbelts, according to investigators.
The man was pinned under the wreckage and was pronounced dead of blunt force trauma. He’s been identified as 48-year-old Anthony Peterson of Crown Point. The woman, 38-year-old Dawn Pappas of Hanna, was transferred from the hospital in LaPorte to South Bend Memorial, where she’s listed in critical condition.
Investigators say it’s unclear who was driving. They say Peterson tested .12 percent BAC, and Pappas tested .21. The presumed level of intoxication is .08.
The crash remains under investigation. Initial findings indicate the truck was traveling east of 600 West, left the roadway on the north side, traveled along a ditch line and hit an embankment. Roads were icy with blowing snow when the crash happened.
