CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) -
A 69-year-old Frankfort, Ind., man is dead after
crashes on Interstate 65 Saturday morning that closed both lanes of the
highway for hours.
Sgt. Dan Leslie with the Indiana State Police said
three separate crashes occurred around 7 a.m. when smoke from a nearby
hay fire impaired visibility on I-65.
A crash in the northbound lanes involved 12 vehicles, Leslie said.
Richard Swan, 69, of Frankfort, was killed in that
crash. Jasper County Coroner Andrew Boersma said preliminary autopsy
results show Swan died of blunt force trauma.
Two separate crashes occurred in the southbound
lanes. The first crash involved six vehicles, the second involved two
vehicles. Three people involved in those crashes were sent to area
hospitals.
Lanes in both directions have been reopened. The
right southbound lane was opened around 11 a.m.; the left lane was
opened around noon. Northbound lanes were fully opened just after 2:30
p.m.
The crashes occurred about 7:18 a.m. at the 228 mile marker two miles south of the State Road 10 exit.
Preliminary investigation revealed that chain
reaction crashes in the southbound lanes occurred when smoke from a
nearby hay fire impaired visibility and began to slow traffic. As
traffic slowed, a 2003 Chevrolet driven by Judy Abernathy of Lowell
began to pass a 2003 Freightliner semi with a box trailer driven by
Albert L. Coker, 55, of Scottsburg, Ind., that was travelling in the
right lane.
When Abernathy abruptly went around the semi to
pass it in the left lane, she rear-ended a 2005 BMW driven by David S.
Kettler of Chicago. This caused a chain reaction as the Chevy pushed the
BMW into a 2007 Dodge Ram driven by Martin J. Murphy, 50 of Shakopee,
Minn., who was then pushed into a 2003 BMW driven by Montoo G. Patel,
30, of Homer Glen, Ill., who then was pushed into a 2002 Chevrolet
driven by Tiffany D. Deno, 23, of DeMotte.
Coker's semi was loaded with freight, but the load was not lost or damaged.
Abernathy, 60, was transported to Franciscan St.
Anthony Health-Crown Point along with a passenger in her vehicle, Nancy
Gresham, 83, of Merrillville. Deno was transported to Jasper County
Hospital in Rensselaer.
The fire originally started Friday in a barn at Bos
Dairy, 1000 West and 700 North, according to a safety officer for the
Keener Township Fire Department, who declined to be identified. Keener
Township was the lead agency responding to the fire.
The spokesman said the fire occurred naturally from
the heat generated during the decomposition of hay. Firefighters
responded Friday and the hay in the barn was removed and spread out on a
field. There were no injuries reported at the farm.
Around 7 a.m. Saturday the fire rekindled, causing
thick brown smoke that impaired visibility on both Interstate 65 and
State Road 10, almost three miles away from the farm.
Firefighters from Keener Township, Lake Township,
Wheatfield, Marion Township, Lincoln Township, Hebron and Rensselaer
responded to the fire.
