A trailer detached from a semi-truck traveling on a highway in northwest Indiana, causing a fatal crash As a result, a mother and her teenage son were killed, investigators say.
Angela Omen, 36, was driving east on US Highway 30 near Vanata — to 8 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 4, according to a news release from the La Porte County Sheriff’s Office. Her 14-year-old son, Joseph, was in the passenger seat of their 2022 Kia, and the other child was in the back seat of the vehicle.
Ahead of them, a truck driver had just exited the highway after visiting a truck stop and was traveling in the same direction, the release said.
Suddenly, the trailer came completely off the big rig, and Ohmen slammed into it from behind.
She and Joseph died at the scene, the sheriff’s office said. The child in the back seat, whose identity has not been established, was taken to the hospital with upper body injuries.
The truck driver was not injured, the report said.
An investigation is underway. No arrests have been made, and investigators are awaiting the results of a toxicology test.
The sheriff’s office did not say what may have caused the trailer to separate from the truck.