ISP: Impaired driver hits truck on I-65 in Lake County

CROWN POINT, Ind. (WISH) — Indiana Department of Transportation workers were performing I-65 repairs early Tuesday morning when a truck was hit by a driver with high levels of alcohol contents in her system, Indiana State Police say.

The crash happened about 3 a.m. Tuesday in the southbound lanes, and closed the interstate from 153rd Avenue to State Road 2 in Lake County.

During the construction, the road was reduced to one left lane while trucks and arrow boards were occupying the right two lanes. State troopers was also at the construction site with their emergency lights activated to warn passing drivers of the repairs. A driver with a white 2017 Jeep Wrangler struck one of the impact attenuators at a high rate of speed, just missing a police car that was stationed there.

The trooper who witnessed the crash immediately went to the driver and found Audrey A. Allee, 28, to be unconscious, unresponsive, and not wearing a seatbelt. First responders arrived at the scene and addressed Allee’s injuries. The driver regained her consciousness and was unaware that she was involved in a crash.

The Jeep had made a lane change from the far left lane to the right where the roadway was closed. The driver failed to yield to the arrow boards and emergency lights. and struck a device designed to cushion the blow of crashes, after striking the vehicle spun into the center median guardrail, police said.

Allee was sent to Franciscan Health Hospital in Crown Point for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. A blood draw was ordered after she refused a certified chemical test. The results of the blood draw were a blood-alcohol content of 0.245. People with a content of 0.8 are considered to be the driving while impaired. Once she was cleared by the hospital, Allee was taken to Lake County Jail and booked on a charge of reckless driving in a work zone, and three counts of OWI.

The driver of the INDOT truck was not injured.