UPDATE: Motorcyclist Being Flown From Crash
Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory established a landing zone for Lutheran Air ambulance at Warsaw Community High School Tuesday afternoon for an Etna Green man injured in a motorcycle crash.
Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department deputies and emergency personnel responded at 2:21 p.m. yesterday to the crash on SR 25 at the intersection of County Road 200 South.
Deputies arrived and located a 1999 Harley Davidson motorcycle that had struck the rear portion of a 2007 Cadillac, with the driver of the motorcycle, Richard P. Lattea, 46, lying on the ground. Lattea initially complained of back pain and suffered lacerations, but as officers were speaking to him he began experiencing respiratory distress.
Multi-Township EMS immediately requested a medical helicopter to transport Lattea, who reportedly suffered a collapsed lung. He was airlifted to Lutheran Memorial Hospital, Fort Wayne, in serious condition.
Preliminarily investigations by the Kosciusko County F.A.C.T./crash investigation team determined that Lattea had been previously travelling northbound on SR 25 behind the Cadillac, driven by Lana K. O’Connell, 61, Warsaw. O’Connell had apparently slowed as she approached the intersection of CR 200 South to turn eastbound, when she was struck from behind by Lattea’s motorcycle. O’Connell was not injured in the crash.
The Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department and F.A.C.T. team were also assisted by the Warsaw-Wayne Township Fire Department.