(Photo by John Faulkner)

Lester A. Hamel, 64, Kimmel is in critical condition at Lutheran Hospital, Fort Wayne, with back and internal injuries following an accident involving a semitractor/trailer and a pick up truck. The accident was at 11:59 a.m. on US 30 at Silveus Crossing, Warsaw.

Warsaw Police and emergency personnel responded to the 911 call of a two-vehicle accident. When they arrived they located Hamel inside his pick up truck. He was extricated from the vehicle and airlifted from the scene to Lutheran Hospital. The driver of the semitractor, Eryk Nowak, 33, River Grove, Ill., suffered minor injuries and refused medical treatment at the scene.

Warsaw Police summoned crash investigators from the Kosciusko County Fatal Alcohol Crash Team to the scene and have preliminarily determined Hamel had been traveling eastbound on US 30. Witnesses told police Hamel was in the left turn lane and attempted to cross the westbound lanes of US 30 when he pulled directly into the path of Nowak’s semitractor.

Both vehicles came to rest just west of the intersection, delaying traffic for several hours as officers reconstructed the scene.

Warsaw Police and the Kosciusko County F.A.C.T. stated the crash is still under investigation, pending legal blood draw results as required by law.

The Kosciusko County F.A.C.T. Team and Warsaw Police were also assisted at the scene by the Warsaw/Wayne Township Fire Territory, Multi-Township E.M.S., Indiana State Police Commercial Vehicle Division, and the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department.