This happened just before 3 a.m. CST Thursday in the 3000 block of U.S. 35. Police arrived to find a vehicle in the woods about 50 feet from the road.
Thomas Drnek II , 29, was found nearby with a head injury, but he was conscious and alert.
Police say 26-year-old Jacob Anderson of LaPorte was ejected from the vehicle. He was declared dead at the scene by the LaPorte County Coroner’s Office.
Police say LaPorte County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Alevizos found probable cause to charge Drnek with Operating While Intoxicated, a class A misdemeanor and Operating While Intoxicated, Causing Death, a class B felony.
Drnek was arrested. He remains at Indiana University Health, LaPorte Campus where he is being treated for his injuries.Due to the nature of the crash, say police, the La Porte County Fatal Alcohol Crash Team was called to the scene to investigate.
“Preliminary investigation suggests that the vehicle had been traveling south on U.S. Highway 35 when it left the roadway to the right and struck a number of trees prior to coming to rest in a wooded area,” according to a news release issued Thursday afternoon.”
U.S. 35 was closed between Johnson Road and U.S. 20 for much of the early morning.