A rear-end collision between a Ford F250 pickup truck and a gray Ford Escape injured a man Thursday, July 4 on US 30 and SR 19.

ETNA GREEN — A woman stood by her mangled, gray Ford Escape and waited for her vehicle to be towed and tended to her Rottweiler mix, Gilbert, as she described the July 4 crash on US 30 in Etna Green that injured her husband.

Gilbert, a male Rottweiler mix was uninjured in the crash while riding in the second row of seats in the Ford Escape.

“We were westbound and he just didn’t stop,” she said of a man driving a large, dark-colored Ford F-250 pickup truck. “My husband’s head hit the windshield and they took him to the hospital,” she said. “Gilbert here wasn’t injured.” The woman’s male dog panted calmly and surveyed the scene, which included Etna Green firefighters and a unit from the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office. The accident happened just before 8 p.m. on Thursday, July 4, on US 30 at the intersection with SR 19.

The man driving the pickup told the woman he didn’t realize westbound traffic was stopped when his vehicle hit the gray SUV at nearly full speed, spinning the Escape around to face eastbound and collapsing the entire rear-end of the vehicle. The dog was riding in the second row of seats and was not injured.

The man told first-responders the entire back of his pickup truck was loaded with fireworks and that he was en route to Plymouth to put on a fireworks display. The fire works were transferred to an alternate vehicle and both vehicles were towed from the scene.

The injured man was transported to Kosciusko Community Hospital with a head injury and, according to his wife, is expected to recover.