A crash on U.S. 6 west of Walkerton claimed the life of a South Bend man Thursday. LaPorte County Sheriff’s Deputies, along with fire and EMS crews, responded to the intersection of U.S. 6 and 875 East around 12:15 p.m. Continue reading
A Monon man was killed in a crash this morning that shut down both northbound lanes of I-65 near the Demotte-Roselawn exit just south of Lowell for several hours and sent two truck drivers to an area hospital. Jim A. Uildriks, 52, of Monon, was pronounced dead at the scene of the 6 a.m. wreck by the Lake County Coroner as a result of blunt force trauma. His 2007 Dodge Ram pickup truck was behind a tractor-trailer driven by Richard W. Konrad, 59, of Indianapolis, which had stopped because of construction up ahead, according to the Indiana State Police. A second semi, driven by Paul J. Gottsacker, 51, of Lavelle, Wis., was behind Uildriks’ truck and did not slow down or stop. It hit and ran over the pickup before hitting the trailer of Konrad’s semi. Both truck drivers complained of pain and were taken to Saint Anthony’s Hospital in Crown Point.
A Winamac man was killed in a single-vehicle motorcycle crash Sunday morning on an interstate in southeast Missouri. Michael Blinn, 50, was northbound on Interstate 55 in Portageville on a 2004 Harley-Davidson, ran off the left side of the roadway and was thrown from the bike, according to a crash report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol. He was wearing a helmet. The wreck happened at 8:30 a.m., and he was pronounced dead a short time later by the New Madrid County Coroner. Blinn sold tractors at Gilsinger Implements in Winamac and wrote a weekly newspaper column for The Pulaski County Journal. He also starred in the locally-produced movie And Then You Die. Arrangements are pending at Frain Mortuary in Winamac.
Alcohol and fog were both factors in an early morning LaPorte County crash that claimed the life of a Hamlet woman. Coroner John Sullivan says Amanda Lovins, 20, was southbound on Range Road in Kingsford Heights in a late-model Ford Explorer just after 1 a.m. and failed to stop at the T-intersection with County Road 800 S. Lovins crashed through the barrier into a concrete culvert. First responders from the Kingsbury Fire Department had to cut her from the wreckage. Sullivan pronounced her dead at the scene from blunt force trauma. He says her blood alcohol concentration was .283 at the time of her death.
A two-vehicle head-on collision last evening in Plymouth claimed the life of a LaPaz man. The wreck occurred around 5:30 on Michigan Road just north of Higbee Corner. Gary L. Richard, 54, of LaPaz was pronounced dead, and two other people were taken to Memorial Hospital in South Bend. Their names have not been released, and the crash remains under investigation.
