Woman dies day after crash on Indiana Toll Road
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SUN TIMES MEDIA WIRE - A 61-year-old woman died Wednesday afternoon after a crash that left her and four other people injured early Tuesday in northwest Indiana.
A 2017 Honda minivan “stopped for an unknown reason” about 12:25 p.m. in the right eastbound lane of the Indiana Toll Road near the 19.6 mile marker in Gary, Indiana, according to a statement from Indiana State Police. A 2016 Ford F-350 pickup swerved in an attempt to avoid the minivan but still rear-ended it.
Both vehicle then crossed the eastbound lanes and hit the concrete center barrier wall, state police said.
Shannon Szelinski, a front-seat passenger in the Honda, was airlifted to University of Chicago Medical Center, where she died at 3:22 p.m. Wednesday, state police and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office said. She lived in Dyer, Indiana.
An autopsy Thursday found she died of multiple injuries from the crash and her death was ruled an accident, the medical examiner’s office said.
The 36-year-old Munster, Indiana, woman who was driving the Honda and a 3-year-old boy who was a passenger were both taken to Methodist Hospital Northlake Campus in Gary, according to state police. Their injuries were not thought to be life-threatening.
A 13-month old boy who was in the Honda was also flown to University of Chicago Medical Center for observation, state police said. The 49-year-old Michigan man who was driving the Ford was taken to St. Mary Medical Center in Hobart for a complaint of pain.
The cause of the crash remained under investigation, but alcohol was not believed to be a factor, state police said.