An East Chicago woman died on Wednesday of injuries sustained on Monday in a
three-vehicle crash at the intersection of C.R. 600N and Ind. 49 in Liberty
Township, the Porter County Sheriff’s Police said.
The victim was identified as Patricia Dahlin, 75.
According to police, at 3 p.m. Carl Dahlin, 79, also of East Chicago and
Patricia Dahlin’s husband, was westbound on C.R. 600N when he attempted to
cross Ind. 49. Police said that Dahlin did enter the median but struck a
second vehicle already stopped in the median and waiting for southbound
traffic to clear. Meanwhile, the rear portion of Dahlin’s 1999 Mitsubishi
Galant remained in the travel portion of the left lane of northbound Ind.
49, where it was subsequently struck by a third vehicle northbound on Ind.
49.
The driver of the second vehicle was Victoria A. Vansenus, 57, of
Valparaiso, driving a 2004 Chevrolet Trailblazer. The driver of the third
vehicle was Christina E. Kronemann, 17, of Valparaiso, driving a 2011 Nissan
Altima.
Kronemann advised police that she did not have time to avoid striking the
rear of Dahlin’s vehicle.
Police said that Carl Dahlin was disoriented after being extricated from his
vehicle, unable to make a statement, and transported to hospital with
internal chest injuries. Patricia Dahlin, however, “was awake and talking to
medical staff on scene,” her “only visible injury” a dislocated left elbow,
police said.
But on Wednesday Patricia Dahlin died from injuries sustained in the crash,
police said. Porter County Coroner Chuck Harris told the Chesterton
Tribune today that the cause of death appears to have been a
subarachnoid hemorrhage, that is, bleeding between the brain and the tissues
covering the brain.
Neither Vansenus nor Kronemann was injured, police said.
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