Driver charged after slamming SUV into home, trying to flee ER

A 19-year-old man who crashed his SUV into a home in northwest Indiana Friday morning tried to escape from a hospital ER, leading to DUI and resisting charges, police said.

LaPorte County Sheriff’s deputies were called about 6 a.m. Friday to the 4000 block on North U.S. 35, just north of LaPorte, Indiana, where an SUV had hit a house.

They found a gray 2004 Chevrolet Trailblazer that had left the road and hit the house, causing significant damage. The driver, Lincoln Steinhiser, claimed to have suffered injuries and was taken by ambulance to LaPorte Hospital.

A witness told police the SUV was northbound on U.S. 35 when it passed another vehicle at a high rate of speed in a no-passing zone. The driver then lost control and the vehicle slid across the three lanes of the highway, into a yard and eventually struck the corner of the home, police said.

There was “significant structural damage to the home, which was knocked several inches off of the foundation,” a statement from police said. “There were several people in the home at the time of the crash, including children; none of them were injured.”

While police were investigating, they were notified that Steinhiser was trying to leave the hospital emergency room. A deputy went to the ER and tried to detain him, but he resisted before finally being taken into custody. Police said he refused medical treatment.

After a breath test showed his blood alcohol content at .16 percent, he was charged with operating while intoxicated, resisting law enforcement and minor consuming alcohol, police said.