Two adults and seven children were injured in a single vehicle crash that occurred this morning, when the driver fell asleep.
Preliminary investigation by Trooper Nicole Maenza revealed, at approximately 3:00 a.m., this Sunday, April 29, 2018, morning a 2007 Dodge Nitro (SUV), driven by Blair Beathea, 31 of South Bend, IN, was east bound on I-80/94 at the 37.5 mile marker (this is approximately 2 ½ miles east of the Michigan City exit), when she fell asleep. The Dodge went off the roadway, down an embankment, began to flip over, hit a tree, and went into a drainage ditch culvert with water, coming to rest on its roof.
Beathea was taken to Memorial Hospital in South Bend with leg and respiratory issues. Front seat passenger (who was asleep at the time of the crash) Alisa Bolden, 23 of Chicago, Il was taken to Franciscan Hospital in Michigan City with head and facial trauma.
There were seven children in the SUV.
Beathea children were: a three-year old girl with injuries to forehead and hand transported to Franciscan Hospital and a one-year old boy initially taken to Franciscan and later taken to Comer’s Children in Chicago with non-life threatening injuries.
Bolden’s children: an eight-year old girl with complaint of pain, and twin five-year old boys one with a dislocated shoulder and head trauma and the other abrasions and complaint of pain, taken to Franciscan Hospital. She also had twin three-month old girls with non-life threatening injuries that were initially taken to Franciscan and later taken to Comer’s Hospital in Chicago.
There were only two car seats and one booster seat in the SUV. Assisting: Trooper Lou Ruiz, La Porte County Sheriff’s Department, Fire and EMS, and Cloverleaf Towing