At 1:30 a.m., a semi tractor/trailer rig was reduced to little more than a pile of scrap metal and the driver was left in critical condition after he ran off of the road and sheared off two utility poles.
According to a press release from the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department, officers from their department, as well as the Churubusco Police Department, the Smith Township Fire Department and the Whitley County EMS were dispatched to the accident at U.S. 33 and C.R. 750 E, just north of Churubusco.

A tractor trailer owned by Omni-Source and driven by Jerry Hartman, 56 , of Yoder, Ind., was involved in a roll-over accident which broke off two electric utility poles, bringing down the electrical wires and spilling the rig’s load of scrap metal across C,.R. 750 E.

According to the report, Hartman was ejected from the vehicle and was pinned under wreckage until extricated by the fire department.

He received treatment at the scene from the EMS technicians and was then flown to a local hospital, where he is listed in critical condition.