WINONA LAKE – A sport-utility vehicle slammed into a Winona Lake duplex Tuesday night, setting it, the SUV and a parked van ablaze and injuring two teens.
Police and medics were called just after 9:30 p.m. Tuesday to a duplex at 2299 CR 275E, Winona Lake, where a speeding SUV had lost control on the roadway and slammed into the building, igniting a wild blaze.
According to a Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department crash report, a black 2002 Mercury Mountaineer driven by Cory J. Byall, 19, of Fort Wayne, was southbound on 275E at 70 to 80 mph in the 35-mph zone there when he hit a dip in the roadway, bottoming out the SUV. The impact caused Byall to lose control of the vehicle, he told police, and as he tried to steady the speeding vehicle, it left the roadway and hit a silver 2000 Chrysler Town and Country minivan, registered to Valerie D. Rodgers, of 1500 W. CR 1400N, North Manchester.
A witness told police she saw the Mountaineer airborne before the crash, the report said.
The SUV then careened off the van and sped into the front of the duplex, the report said. The crash ignited a fire in the duplex.
Byall told police that he then pulled his passenger – Wayne C. Weinhold, 19, 1241 N. Riverwood Ranch, Warsaw – from the SUV before it became fully engulfed in flames, the report said.
Fire spread to the van, as well, fully engulfing it in flames, the report said.
Byall suffered an abrasion to his face and was treated at Kosciusko Community Hospital. Weinhold was also hospitalized after complaining of abdomal /pelvic pain.
Fire crews extinguished the wide-spread blaze.
The two vehicles and the duplex were fully damaged. A stone fence on the property was also destroyed, and a neighbor reported his roof sustained damage from the scene.
Byall submitted a blood draw following the crash. Results of that test are pending.
Investigators estimated the crash totaled $50,000-$100,000 in damages.
