PORTER COUNTY | A state trooper was badly hurt Tuesday morning in a car wreck en route to a fatal accident at Ind. 49 and Gateway Boulevard.

Senior Trooper Glen Fifield, 38, was in stable condition Tuesday night at Porter hospital in Valparaiso, a hospital spokeswoman said. The three-vehicle crash at 11:53 a.m. at Ind. 49 and County Road 500 South broke Fifield's wrist and wounded his head, according to a news release from Indiana State Police Sgt. Ann Wojas.

According to Wojas:

Fifield, a 10-year state police veteran, was driving north on Ind. 49 in an unmarked police car with interior police lights and sirens running before the wreck. A southbound semitrailer and a southbound Ford F-150 pickup driven by Marvin P. Arnett, 61, of Wheatfield, pulled to the roadside as the police car approached. A red GMC Sonoma pickup truck driven by Christopher M. Merry, 25, of Kouts, failed to stop, and slammed into the Ford's rear. The GMC was thrown into Fifield's northbound path. Fifield swerved right, but the GMC smashed his car's driver's side. The crash shoved the police car off the road, front-first into a ditch. The police car was destroyed.

Arnett and his wife, Lola Arnett, 58, were treated and released from Porter hospital, the hospital spokeswoman said. Merry was treated and released from Porter hospital, Wojas said. A passenger in the GMC - Frances Cornett, 24, of Valparaiso - was treated and released from Porter hospital, the hospital spokeswoman said.

Merry and Cornett were not wearing seat belts, and Merry was cited for following too close, Wojas said.