Police say a man who died in a head on-collision he caused was intoxicated.
LaPorte County police revealed on Tuesday that Walter Bracich had a .186 percent blood alcohol level.
Police said the 46-year-old Hobart man was northbound in the southbound lane of U-S 421 near 100 North when the crash happened around 11 Friday night. That’s between Michigan City and Westville.
The oncoming driver, 32-year-old Marlon Saunders of Union Pier, Michigan told police just as he crested a small hill he encountered a car operated by Bracich in the opposite lane.
The head-on collision then happened so suddenly Saunders did not have enough time to brake or even honk the horn of his 1999 Ford F-350 pickup truck, police said.
The Ford Crown Victoria operated by Bracich came to rest in the middle of the two lane highway and was struck by a third vehicle operated by 51-year-old David Sorenson of Huntington, Indiana.
Bracich was ejected and pronounced dead at the scene of massive internal injuries.
Saunders and Sorenson were both transported to a hospital for observation. Any injuries they sustained did not appear serious, said police.
LaPorte County Chief Deputy Coroner Mark Huffman said Bracich was diabetic and his glucose level was very high at just over 500. He said being intoxicated with such a high sugar level could have worsened Bracich’s impaired ability to drive by causing disorientation.
Huffman said most alcoholic beverages contain sugar and raise can the blood sugar levels in diabetics.
”Both of them together is not a good mixture. It’s just a bad combination,” said Huffman.
via LaPorte County police: Man who died in head-on was intoxicated – wsbt.com.
Filed under: Indiana
