DNR Law Enforcement Responds to Snowmobile Fatality, Wrecks

 
 

Several snowmobile accidents, including one fatality, were reported over the weekend. The fatality occurred on Lake Manitou in Fulton County early Sunday morning, according to DNR officials. They say James Downs III, 51, of Rochester, was operating his snowmobile alone when the accident happened. Friends found him around 6 a.m. Sunday pinned under his snowmobile. Initial findings indicate Downs was approaching the shoreline, turned too sharply and was thrown from his snowmobile. Officials with the Fulton County Coroner’s Office say he died of blunt force trauma to his chest and torso. Speed, alcohol and reduced visibility are possible contributing factors to the crash, but toxicology results will not be available for several weeks. Continue reading

Truck Driver Killed in LaPorte County Crash

Steven Lunn, 52, of Olympia Fields, Ill. had to be cut from the wreckage of his truck.
Steven Lunn, 52, of Olympia Fields, Ill. had to be cut from the wreckage of his truck.

A truck driver from Olympia Fields, Ill. is dead and a Valparaiso man is in jail after an early morning crash on I-94 in LaPorte County that shut the highway down for about two hours. The wreck occurred near the Indiana-Michigan State Line around 2 a.m. Truck driver George A. Leeth, Sr. of Hammond called 911 from his cell phone to report a suspected drunk driver in an Audi station wagon driving erratically with speeds ranging from 25 to 60 miles-per-hour. The driver, Howard B Gutenstein, 47, of Valparaiso, stopped his car in the middle of the highway, got out and started walking around. Leeth stopped, according to state police, put his flashers on and coaxed Gutenstein back into his car. As Leeth was getting back into his truck, another semi hit him, pushing his truck into Gutenstein’s car. The driver of the second truck, Steven Lunn, 52, of Olympia Fields, Ill.hand to be cut from the cab of his truck and was pronounced dead at the scene of massive trauma. Leeth was taken to a Michigan City hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Gutenstein faces a felony charge of operating while intoxicated causing death and a misdemeanor offense of endangering. State troopers say he had a blood alcohol content of .13 percent.