Two motorists were injured Tuesday in an accident at the intersection of U.S. Highway 20 and Tremont Road, Porter Police said.

According to police, at 12:34 p.m. Heather R. Donnelly, 50, of Chesterton, was southbound on Tremont Road and stopped for a red light at U.S. 20 when she pulled into the intersection, causing a trucker eastbound on U.S. 20 to swerve right.

The trucker, Timothy T. Sibley, 50, of Walkerville, Mich., lost traction during the swerve and his rig rolled onto its right side, scattering the load on his flatbed trailer—construction plywood—along the berm and onto U.S. 20, police said.

Sibley sustained an injury to his left shoulder and was transported to Porter Valparaiso Hospital Campus, police said.

Donnelly refused medical attention at the scene but complained of neck and knee pain “in addition to an apparent fracture to her right hand,” police said.

Donnelly advised police that, just before the crash, she “took a drink of a soft drink and was thinking about things she needed to complete today” and that she had “no idea why she pulled into the intersection.”

Donnelly “agrees that the light was red for her direction of travel,” police said.

Police estimated total damage to Donnelly’s 2010 Honda, Sibley’s rig, and a Frontier Communications junction box on the south shoulder of U.S. 20 at over $100,000.

Some 450 phone circuits handled by the junction box were affected by the crash, police said.

Both the Porter and Chesterton fire departments responded to the scene, although no extrication was required, and remained there until the semi was righted. Porter Fire Chief Lewis Craig told the Chesterton Tribune that the PFD cleared the scene around 3 p.m.

Posted 9/28/2011