Shortly after 11:30 a.m. CT on Tuesday, deputies from the La Porte County Sheriff’s office were dispatched to a two-vehicle crash that occurred on US Highway 20 at the intersection of Range Road in rural Kankakee Township.
A media advisory explained that Kankakee Township Firemen were the first to arrive on the scene and they determined that the driver of a Honda passenger car involved in the accident was unresponsive.
The driver of the Honda, 21 year-old Jake Eason, of rural La Porte, was pronounced dead at the scene by the La Porte County Coroner’s Office. Eason was the only occupant in the vehicle at the time of the crash and it was determined that he was wearing his seat belt and shoulder harness.
According to the police report, deputies determined that the Honda had been traveling west on Highway 20 when the vehicle began to lose control and traveled left of center where it was struck broadside by an east bound semi tractor-trailer.
According to the press release, the Honda was impacted on the passenger side and the impact forced both vehicles off onto the south shoulder of the road, along the east bound lanes. The driver of the semi tractor-trailer, 54-year-old Thomas Darrus, of Riverside, Illinois, was not injured. Police say that at the time of the crash heavy snow was falling the roadway surface condition was snow covered, slick and hazardous.
The results of toxicology screenings for both drivers are still pending and therefore are not known at this time but the primary cause of the crash has been determined to be that the Honda was traveling left of center with weather conditions and roadway surface conditions as contributing factors.
The La Porte County Sheriff’s Office was assisted at the scene by La Porte County Emergency Medical Service, Kankakee Fire Department and the La Porte County Coroner’s Office.
