UPDATE: The LaPorte County Sheriff’s Office released the names of the three people killed on Friday evening, March 17, along with new information about the collision:
The incident was dispatched at 7:01 AM with sheriff’s deputies, firefighters and medics being dispatched to the scene at CR 300 E. First arriving units found that two vehicles were involved; a gray 2008 Pontiac G6 and a white 1992 Volvo.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the Pontiac was traveling west on US 20, believed to be in the passing lane, when the vehicle suddenly lost control and began to slide sideways into the eastbound lanes of the highway. The Pontiac’s passenger side struck the front of the eastbound semi tractor-trailer.
All three occupants of the Pontiac were killed upon impact. The driver of the semi, a 41-year-old man from Mishawaka, was not injured.
Passenger Car:
- Driver~ Judith Peachey, age 22, Goshen, Indiana
- Front seat passenger~ Rosalie Koehn, age unknown, Greensburg, Kansas ( believed to be in her teens )
- Rear seat passenger~ Lani Nace, age 17, Greensburg, Kansas
ORIGINAL STORY:
ROLLING PRAIRIE, Ind. (AP) — The LaPorte County Sheriff’s Office say three people have died in a collision between a passenger car and a semitrailer.
The La Porte County Sheriff’s Office says the car’s three occupants were killed in Friday morning’s crash along U.S. 20 just west of the town of Rolling Prairie. The truck driver was not injured in the 7 a.m. CT crash about 15 miles west of South Bend.
Sheriff John Boyd says he was driving on the same stretch of road about 10 minutes before the crash and noticed it had slush and ice.
The Indiana Department of Transportation says the semitrailer involved in the crash was hauling steel coils.