A crash involving two semitrailers Wednesday afternoon left one driver with serious injuries, 90 gallons of diesel fuel spilled and closed all lanes of southbound Interstate 65 traffic until evening, police said.
Indiana State Police spokeswoman Sgt. Ann Wojas said Luis Ortiz, 57, of Mississippi, was driving a 2007 box trailer owned by Deerfield, Ill.-based Salco Transport southbound in the left lane about 5 miles south of the Lowell exit. Ortiz hit his brakes, went off to the right and lost control, hitting a semitrailer parked on the outer shoulder driven by David Hill, 37, of Comer, Ga., a release said.
Hill parked his rig, owned by Hilldrup Moving and Storage, Stafford, Va., to make a phone call, Wojas said. It’s unclear why Ortiz hit his brakes, she said.
When Ortiz’s truck hit Hill, its trailer jack-knifed and blocked all southbound lanes, police said. Ortiz was transported from the scene to an Illinois hospital with serious injuries; Hill was transported to Methodist Hospitals Southlake campus in Merrillville for treatment of his injuries, according to Wojas.
All southbound lanes were closed and traffic was diverted off at the Lowell exit to remove the injured and clean up the roadway, Wojas said. All lanes were reopened at 7:50 p.m.
The Crown Point Fire and EMS, Newton County Fire and EMS, Lowell Fire and Tri-Creek EMS and the Indiana Department of Transportation assisted.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.