2 children dead after crash in Blackford County
MONTPELIER, Ind. (WISH) — A 5-year-old and a 6-year-old are dead after a head-on crash Friday evening involving a pick-up and a semi tractor-trailer.
According to the Blackford County Sheriff’s Office, crews responded to reports of a crash just before 8:30 p.m. on State Road 18, a half mile east of State Road 3. When they arrived, they found the pick-up on fire. Chief Deputy Jim Heflin and neighbors used fire extinguishers to put out the fire.
Robert Cook, 37, of Montpelier was driving eastbound when he then got into the westbound lane, nearly colliding with a vehicle and then driving into the path of the tractor-trailer, the sheriff’s office said. It’s unknown why Cook was in the westbound lane.
Two of Cook’s children, a 5-year-old and a 6-year-old, died at the scene of the crash, investigators said. Cook was taken to IU Health Blackford Hospital and was then airlifted to a hospital in Fort Wayne.
The driver of the semi, Jason Long, 43, of Cogan Station, Pennsylvania, was not injured, the sheriff’s office said.
Investigators said toxicology tests were conducted on both drivers as part of standard procedures and the results are pending.