Driver encounters deer before fatal crash in Tippecanoe County

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WISH) — A driver died Thursday night after encountering deer on a rural stretch of Tippecanoe County and crashing, the sheriff’s office says.

The Tippecanoe County Coroner’s Office was expected to later release the driver’s identity.

Investigators says a witness saw the driver’s 2016 Chevrolet Impala encounter multiple deer just before 6:15 p.m. Thursday in the 5400 block of Division Road. That’s about 3 miles west of Fort Ouiatenon, a historic landmark southwest of West Lafayette.

The witness saw the car go off the road and hit a tree.

The driver died at the crash scene.

The driver was unrestrained, the Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release issued Thursday night from Capt. Robert Hainje.