GARY | A 33-year-old Hometown, Ill. man was seriously injured Monday afternoon when he slammed his pickup truck into the back of a semi's box trailer on the Borman Expressway in an alcohol-related crash, police said.
According to Indiana State Police, Brian Reierson, 33, was driving at 4:10 p.m. in the right center lane of the westbound Borman about a mile east of the Broadway exit when his 2005 Ford pickup truck struck the rear box trailer of a 2000 Freightliner being driven by a Michigan man.
Police said Reierson was speeding when he struck the trailer, swerved to the right and hit the concrete barrier wall. Reierson was not wearing his seat belt at the time of the crash. The airbag on the pickup deployed, police said.
Reierson was transported to The Methodist Hospitals' Northlake campus in Gary with serious internal injuries and critical injuries to his neck and head, according to police. He was later air-lifted to Loyola University Medical Center in Oak Lawn, which houses a trauma center.
Reierson was charged with operating while intoxicated endangerment, operating while intoxicated, driving while suspended, not wearing a seatbelt and following too closely, police said.
The pickup truck was totaled. The driver of the semi was not injured. His trailer sustained about $2,000 in damage as a result of the crash, police said.
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