A 16-year-old
Center Township boy was killed on Saturday in a one-vehicle accident on C.R.
600W in Union Township, the Porter County Sheriff’s Police said.
The victim has been
identified as Rafael Bonilla, who police said was a passenger in a 2014 Jeep
Wrangler being driven by Zachery Sauer, also 16 and a resident of Center
Township.
According to
police, at 5:54 p.m. Sauer was northbound on C.R. 600W “at a high rate of
speed” when, just north of Division Road, he lost control, left the roadway
to the east, and struck a tree. On officers’ arrival, police said, Sauer was
“talking and conscious with complaint of pain to his head,” while Bonilla
“had been killed on impact.”
Bonilla and Sauer
were both wearing seatbelts, police said, and “at this time neither drugs
nor alcohol are believed to be a factor in the crash.”
Sauer was
transported to Porter Regional Hospital for treatment of his injuries,
police added.
The Indiana State
Police responded to the scene for accident reconstruction, police said.