MENTONE – An Akron man was seriously injured this morning after his sedan slammed into a flatbed trailer on Ind. 19 near Mentone.
Emergency personnel were called just before 8 a.m. today to the intersection of Ind. 19 and CR 200S, where a tan sedan had become wedged beneath a flatbed trailer following a collision at the stop sign there.
Crews tried to pull the sedan’s driver - 21-year-old Kyle D. Grossman, of 10971 E. CR 50 North, Akron - from the vehicle, but a large agricultural liquid tank that had tumbled off the trailer had to first be removed from atop its roof, Kosciusko County Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Chad Hill said. Once the tank was removed, Grossman was taken from the car and airlifted to Fort Wayne’s Parkview Hospital in serious condition, Hill said.
Investigators believe that Grossman’s 1993 Oldsmobile was southbound on Ind. 19 when an eastbound 1984 International straight truck, driven by James E. Wise, 58, 1228 W. Ind. 25, Mentone, pulled from a stop sign at the intersection with CR 200S into his path. Wise told investigators that he did not see Grossman’s sedan, Hill said.
Wise was not injured in the crash. He was taken to Kosciusko Community Hospital to submit to a chemical test, per state regulations.
The Kosciusko County Fatal Alcohol Crash Team said the crash remains under investigation.
