HAMMOND | A teenager died Tuesday night after his motorcycle slammed into the back of a semitrailer on Interstate 80/94.
Jonathan P. Veenstra-Bell, 17, of Gary, was pronounced dead from massive blunt force trauma after he was taken to The Community Hospital in Munster, according to Indiana State Police.
Fire officials arrived at the scene on the expressway between Kennedy and Cline avenues to find a motorcycle underneath the back end of a tractor-trailer on fire, Hammond Fire Department Assistant Chief Scott Rakos said.
A father and son were riding two separate motorcycles when the crash occurred just before 8:30 p.m., Indiana State Police Cpl. William Jones said.
The son's motorcycle hit the semitrailer and caught on fire, officials said.
The fire, which was on the back of the trailer and consuming the motorcycle, was extinguished quickly, Rakos said.
The teen wasn't on the motorcycle as it was pinned beneath the trailer, officials said.
One lane of of the four-lane expressway was open as police investigators took measurements, photographs and cleared the damaged vehicles from the area late Tuesday.
ISP's crash reconstruction team is handling the investigation, police said.
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