GROVERTOWN – A Pierceton man was killed Wednesday in a fatal traffic accident in Starke County.
On Wednesday at 6:11 a.m., the Starke County Sheriff’s Department 911 Center received a call of an accident involving a passenger car and semi-tractor trailer.
Steve Mort, Pierceton, was transported to a Plymouth hospital and later to Memorial Hospital, South Bend, where he was pronounced dead.
Tim Mort, Steve’s brother, was transported to a Memorial Hospital in South Bend. Police did not indicate which of the Morts was the driver.
Officers and EMS personnel arrived on the scene and found a semi, hauling a wind turbine propeller, had left the Grovertown truck stop to go east on U.S. 30 when the driver of a westbound passenger car failed to see the semi pulling out onto the highway and drove under the semi trailer.
The semi was being escorted by four wide-load escort vehicles. The semi and the load were completely across the eastbound lane because of the collision.
There were two occupants trapped inside the passenger car underneath the trailer and both had to be extracted using extraction equipment and a large wrecker from Howard’s Towing.
The driver of the semi was not injured and this accident remains under investigation by the Starke County Sheriff’s Department and the Indiana State Police Department of Transportation inspectors.
The Starke County Sheriff’s Department was assisted at the scene by the Indiana State Police DOT Inspection units, Koontz Lake Fire Department, Hamlet Fire Department, Starke County EMS and Plymouth EMS.
