FORT WAYNE, Ind. (ADAMS) – Fort Wayne police think that alcohol and speed may have caused a crash Tuesday morning that left a man with critical injuries.
A call came into dispatch reporting that a car had crashed headfirst into a tree close to the Northcrest Shopping Center around 6 a.m. When officers arrived, they found a man pinned in the driver’s seat of the car.
Once he was rescued from the car, it was thought that his injuries were not life-threatening. However, once at ta local hospital doctors downgraded his condition to critical.
Fort Wayne Police Department officials released the following:
The Fort Wayne Police Department received a call by a passing motorist about a grey passenger car that crashed into a tree in the Northcrest Shopping Center about a quarter after 6am this morning. Upon Police arrival an adult male was located in the driver’s seat, airbags deployed, pinned in the vehicle. The driver appeared injured and was extracted by the Fort Wayne Fire Department. The subject was transported to a local hospital by Three Rivers Ambulance Authority with non-life threatening injuries.
Once at the hospital, the subject was downgraded to life-threatening condition by a Physician.
The Fatal Accident Crash Team and the Air Support Unit (Drones)were paged and the FACT team took over the investigation. Preliminary investigation indicates that the driver of the grey passenger car was traveling north on Clinton St. and attempted a left turn to go into the Northcrest Shopping Center and lost control crashing into a tree. It appears that speed and alcohol may be contributing factors in the crash.
This incident remains under investigation by the Fort Wayne Police Department and the Allen County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.