TUFW Writing Students, Professor in Crash

From Wednesday's Fort Wayne Journal Gazette:

3 Taylor vehicles in Kosciusko pileup

Kelly SoderlundThe Journal Gazette


A caravan of Taylor University-Fort Wayne vehicles was involved in a chain-reaction crash on U.S. 30 in Kosciusko County on Wednesday morning. None of the injuries reported was life-threatening.

A group of 19 students and one professor were traveling to Chicago to visit publishers as part of an English class for professional writing majors, Taylor spokesman Jim Garringer said.

Snowy weather and poor road conditions led to the accident involving three Taylor vehicles and other tractor-trailer rigs and cars on the road.

One Taylor van and two university-owned cars sustained severe damage. The van was destroyed by fire after all of the passengers left the vehicle, said Tim Sammons of the Pierceton Police Department.

Sammons said the injuries included from possible broken ribs and back and neck pain; none appeared life-threatening.

Six students and one professor from Taylor were taken to area hospitals, four to Whitley County and three to Kosciusko County.

Two students taken to Kosciusko Community Hospital were released, Garringer said.

No other serious injuries were reported, he said, but five other students went to Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne to be checked out.

“We’re just incredibly grateful to God that these are not more serious than what they appear to be,” Garringer added.

The series of crashes began when an SUV rear-ended a tractor-trailer rig at U.S. 30 and Indiana 13, Sammons said. The vehicles then pulled over to the side of the road.

Another truck traveling west slowed as it approached the intersection and was rear-ended by the Taylor van.

A Taylor-owned Ford Taurus then rear-ended the van, sending the car spinning into a ditch and leaving the van spinning in the road.

A second Taylor-owned Ford Taurus tried to miss the van and clipped a Jeep Liberty that was stopped at Indiana 13. The Taurus then T-boned another car, police said.

Everyone got out of the van, but it began to smoke, then was destroyed by fire.