Chesterton Police have released the name of the victim in Wednesday’s fatal crash at the intersection of Ind. 49 and Gateway Blvd., in an accident for which there are still more questions than answers.

The CPD identified the victim as Gary Danowski, 62, of Lake Villa, Ill. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Witness accounts of the crash vary, however, and the CPD said today that, preliminarily, investigators are satisfied only that Danowski was southbound on Ind. 49 prior to colliding head-on with the lead vehicle in a line of four vehicles northbound on Ind. 49 and in the left-turn lane for the Indiana Toll Road.

According to police, an initial report at the scene indicated that, at 7:45 a.m., Danowski was southbound on Ind. 49 in the right-turn lane for the Indiana Toll Road when he veered left across all four lanes of traffic at a high rate of speed and struck the lead northbound vehicle head on.

Another witness advised the CPD today, though, that Danowski had moved from the right-turn lane into the left-turn lane, then accelerated prior to the crash.

Both witness stated that they were driving at approximately 50 miles per hour when Danowski passed them and that he was accelerating at the time.

The driver of the lead northbound vehicle was Abdel Omara, 40, of Valparaiso. The impact of the collision drove Omara’s 2007 Mercedes SUV backward into the 2010 Honda CRV driven by Carol Hamilton, 61, of Valparaiso; Hamilton’s vehicle into the 2007 Jeep Commander driven by Helen Wratten, 53, of Valparaiso; and Wratten’s vehicle into the 2004 Chevrolet Impala driven by Luz Ramos, 58, police said.

After striking Omara’s SUV, police said, Danowski also hit a semi-tractor-trailer in the northbound lane immediately east of the left-turn lane driven by Jozefko Piotr, 32, of Chicago.

Hamilton—who had to be extricated from her vehicle—and Omara were both transported to Porter Valparaiso Hospital Campus for unspecified injuries, police said. Wratten, Ramos, and Piotr did not report any injuries and were not transported, police said.

The accident remains under investigation and anyone with information is urged to contact Police Chief Dave Cincoski or Lt. Dave Lohse at 926-1136.

Posted 11/29/2010