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player ready...A Hammond Police officer has been put on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation and toxicology screening after a car crash in which he was involved killed one and injured two others, according to a Hammond Police Department spokesperson.
An Indiana State Police investigation indicates that at around 8:55 p.m. Friday, October 16, an off-duty Hammond police officer was driving his black 2024 Chevrolet Silverado north, at a high rate of speed, in the 6400 block of Columbia Avenue in Hammond when it crossed 165th Avenue and struck a silver 2021 Toyota Highlander attempting to enter Columbia from a nearby business parking lot, ISP Spokesman Sgt. Glen Fifield said in a release Monday. The Chevrolet then swung into the southbound lanes of Columbia Avenue, where a gray 2010 Ford SUV hit it, Fifield said.
The Toyota, of which the Chevy caused catastrophic damage its driver’s side, crashed into a fence west of Columbia Avenue, Fifield said. The person driving the Ford was taken to a local hospital and released, while the Chevrolet driver, identified as Hammond Police Officer Alonso J. Lopez, 34 of Hammond, was arrested at the hospital after voluntarily submitting to blood draw and then taken to the Lake County Jail on a 48-hour probable cause hold, he said.
The driver of the Toyota, who the Lake County Coroner’s office identified as Thomas Hunt, 73, of Gary, was pronounced dead at Community Hospital, according to a release from the office.
Lopez was later released pending the ISP Crash Reconstruction Unit’s investigation and the blood analysis results, Fifield said, and Hammond Police Department Spokesman Cpt. Steve Kellogg confirmed with the Post-Tribune Monday. Kellogg also confirmed Lopez’s employment status.
The Reconstruction Unit will submit the case to he case will be submitted to the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office for review and consideration of felony charges.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.