PIERCETON - A Nebraska trucker was killed midday Tuesday when his semi rear-ended a stopped semi while going full-speed on U.S. 30.
Emergency personnel were called just before 1 p.m. to the intersection of U.S. 30 and Ind. 13, where a semi tractor-trailer had badly rear-ended another on the highway’s westbound lanes, the impact decimating the front-end and pinning one of the drivers in the cab.
Kosciusko County Coroner Jon Sadler pronounced that man – 65-year-old Roger A. Schmale of Norfolk, Neb. – dead at the scene with “extensive” head and internal injuries.
Investigators gathered that a maroon 2001 Freightliner Conventional rig driven by 40-year-old William C. Mendez of Chicago, Ill., was stopped at the red light at the Ind. 13 intersection when Schmale’s black 1999 Freightliner Conventional truck barreled down on him traveling full-speed, slamming into Mendez’s truck. The posted speed limit is 45 miles per hour.
Mendez, who was uninjured in the collision, told investigators that he looked in his mirror to see the truck coming at him at a constant speed before it rear-ended him. The Kosciusko County FACT determined Schmale braked briefly before the collision.
Blood testing of Schmale will be performed to complete the investigation into the crash. Mendez submitted a blood test, as well.
U.S. 30 westbound was closed for almost two hours as crews cleaned up the wreckage. Investigators estimated the cost of the collision to be between $50,000 and $100,000.
