Drivers injured when propane truck and car collide in NW Indiana

Two men were injured when a car and a propane tanker truck collided Thursday afternoon in northwest Indiana, leaving a state highway closed for more than eight hours.

The crash happened about 4:51 p.m. on State Road 2 near CR 400N, in Washington Township, an unincorporated area of Porter County just east of Valparaiso, according to the Porter County sheriff’s office.

The crash involved a 2003 Toyota Corolla that was southbound on SR 2 from Westville when it crossed the center line and struck a 2010 International Cargo tanker truck hauling propane, causing the truck to roll over into a nearby field, police said.

A HazMat response was called because of propane leaking from the truck, and the road was closed for more than eight hours, police said. The Valparaiso Fire Department and Washington Township Fire Department took part in the cleanup.

The driver of the car, 30 year old Robert Garrett of LaPorte, Indiana, was extricated from his vehicle and flown by helicopter to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn with “incapacitating injuries to his arm and upper leg,” police said.

The driver of the tanker, a 66-year-old LaPorte man, was pinned in the overturned vehicle, and was extricated after HazMat officers cleared the scene. He was taken to Porter Regional Hospital in Valparaiso with injuries to his shoulder and upper arm, police said.

Garrett was cited for driving with a suspended license and driving left of center, police said.