Pickup slams into semi on I-94 after driver falls asleep

A northwest Indiana man was injured and his vehicle totaled when he fell asleep at the wheel Tuesday morning and slammed into a semi truck on I-94 in Porter County.

Indiana State Police said Ryan M. Hale, 21, of DeMotte, had just gotten off work and was driving a 2011 Ford Super Duty pickup eastbound on I-94 in the middle lane in unincorporated Pine Township, about halfway between Chesterton and Michigan City.

Near the 29.4 mile marker, he fell asleep and the pickup “drifted over to the right lane and struck the box trailer of semi,” a statement from ISP said.

The semi, a 2007 Volvo owned by North Wolf Logistics Group out of Chicago, had just merged into the right lane from the truck scales when it was hit, according to police.

The semi, loaded with only empty racks, finally stopped in the acceleration lane off the scales, while the pickup came to rest in the right lane, police said.

Hale was taken to Porter Regional Hospital in Valparaiso with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police. The driver of the semi, a Chicago man, was not hurt.

One lane of I-94 was closed for about 30 minutes for investigation and removal of the pickup, ISP said.