Two individuals had to be airlifted to hospitals after a series of crashes on an Indiana highway near Hammond on Saturday morning.
According to Indiana State Police, the crashes occurred near the Kennedy Avenue exit in Hammond. At approximately 4 a.m., a vehicle struck an arrow-board sign that was on the right shoulder, warning drivers of a lane shift in the roadway.
That sign then landed in the lanes of travel, police said.
A vehicle swerving to avoid the sign crashed their vehicle and was pinned inside of the minivan, police said. After they were extricated, they were airlifted to a Chicago hospital with life-threatening injuries.
A second driver was also airlifted after they crashed their pickup truck during the collisions that followed. That driver was transported to another hospital with serious injuries.
Police ultimately determined that a 33-year-old woman had struck the sign, and showed signs of impairment at the scene. She consented to a blood draw, with results pending at this time.
The suspect, a Calumet Park, Illinois resident, was taken to Lake County Jail. She faces felony charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated and causing serious injury, along with several other misdemeanors.
Local
No further information was available.
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