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Illinois Man Seriously Injured In Toll Road Crash
By: Mike Stiles - Tuesday, July 6, 2021

(Pictures courtesy of Indiana State Police)

(LAGRANGE COUNTY) – An Illinois man was injured on the Indiana Toll Road in an accident.

Indiana State Police were called to the Toll Road at the 112 mile marker in LaGrange County at 9:20 PM Friday to investigate what was reported as a semi versus car crash. Troopers arrived and determined there were two separate, single vehicle crashes.

Following their investigation troopers discovered a 2017 Kia passenger car had been traveling east on the Toll Road when, for an unknown reason, it ran off the roadway, went through the center grass median and rolled over multiple times in the west bound lanes with oncoming traffic.

The car landed on his side, and did not strike any other vehicles.

A semi was driving in the west bound lanes and was able to take evasive action to avoid colliding with the Kia. However, the semi went of the road and crashed in the north ditch of the Toll Road.

The semi driver, 35 year old Temitayo Oluwasanmi of Baltimore, Maryland, was not injured.

The Kia driver, 36 year old Steven Clery of Berwyn, Illinois, had multiple trauma injuries to his arm and head. Several motorists assisted him, until troopers arrived and applied two tourniquets to his arm to control the heavy bleeding. He was flown by Parkview Samaritan Helicopter to Parkview Regional Medical Center in Fort Wayne and is listed in stable condition.

Further investigation found witnesses who said Cleary was allegedly using his cell phone prior to the crash, which suggested that distracted driving may have been a primary cause, or at least a contributing cause. Drug impairment is also suspected, which is still under investigation.

Cleary was wearing his seat belt, but the airbags did not deploy, because they had deployed in an earlier crash. Cleary's dog was ejected in the crash, and was found in good condition.

The investigation will be turned over to the LaGrange County Prosecutor for review and determination of any criminal charges that may arise.



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