LAPORTE COUNTY | A Toll Road maintenance worker and another driver were killed Tuesday morning in an accident along the Indiana Toll Road near Michigan City.
Daniel J. Miller, 52 of LaPorte, the maintenance worker, was struck and died at the scene.
Paul A. Kimbrugh, who was driving the SUV that struck Miller, was airlifted to South Bend Memorial Hospital.
Kimbrugh, 78, of Coldwater and Cape Coral, Fla., died from his injuries, according to Indiana State Police.
Police said Toll Road radio dispatch had received a call about a speeding, erratic driver westbound on the Toll Road and dispatched that information to patrol units. About 10 minutes later, at about 10:30 a.m., the same vehicle, a red 2005 Hyundai Santa Fe, hit the rear of a maintenance pickup truck.
The pickup truck, driven by Kevin Standefer, 49, of LaPorte, was parked on the inner shoulder of the westbound lanes just east of the Michigan City exit.
Miller, who had been a passenger in the pickup, had just exited the truck to get trimming equipment from the back when the Santa Fe hit him and the rear of the pickup.
Standefer was taken to Saint Anthony’s Hospital in Michigan City with non-life threatening injuries.
Miller was a 17-year employee of the Toll Road. Standefer has worked 12 years for the Toll Road. Both worked for the LaPorte District Maintenance Area 2.
Police said the pickup had warning lights and a lighted arrow board activated in the bed of the truck. There were also signs behind the pickup warning westbound traffic of workers up ahead.
Police said the westbound lanes were closed for about two hours.
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