A Chesterton man died early Saturday morning after driving into a bucket truck pulled over to the shoulder on Interstate 80/94 because of mechanical problems, according to police.
Troopers with the Lowell Post of Indiana State Police were dispatched around 2:30 a.m. July 27 to the eastbound lanes of the interstate between Burr and Grant streets in Gary for a report of a passenger car that had rear-ended a truck, according to a release from state police.
Corey Stephen Nicholas, 36, died at the scene, police said. An autopsy and toxicology tests are pending further investigation by the Lake County Coroner’s Office.
Police arriving on the scene observed that the car “had rear-ended the bucket truck at a high rate of speed,” according to the release.
The car, a 2024 Honda Civic, was eastbound on the highway when for unknown reasons, the car left the roadway and rear-ended the truck.
According to a preliminary police investigation, the driver of the bucket truck had stopped on the right emergency shoulder because of a mechanical failure and it was not drivable. For safety, the driver of the truck had placed orange cones on the side of the road and behind the truck as required.
As he was sitting in the cab of the truck, he felt the impact of the car rear-ending his vehicle.
The driver of the Honda was located in the car but was unresponsive when troopers arrived at the scene. Troopers and first responders attempted to render first aid but efforts were unsuccessful, police said. The Lake County Coroner later declared the driver deceased at the scene. The driver of the truck was not injured.
The truck driver was not impaired, police said. The Indiana State Police Crash Reconstruction Team also responded to the scene to assist.
