Traffic stopped on Borman Expressway when van strikes semi - KMSP-TV

A minivan was split in two, and the car parts the van was loaded with were strewn across three lanes of the Borman Expressway (I-80) Wednesday morning in Hammond when the van crashed into a disabled semi that was parked on the shoulder.

Traffic on the Borman around the scene of the crash was stopped for about an hour afterward.

The accident happened about 5:15 a.m. on the Borman Expressway near Cline Avenue in Hammond, according to the Indiana State Police.

Preliminary investigation by state police revealed that a 2004 Mack semi pulling a box trailer was parked disabled on the outer shoulder with its emergency triangles out behind it when a black 2000 Toyota Sienna minivan that was in the far right lane for unknown reasons drove off the road, through the triangles, and struck the left rear of the box trailer, a release from state police said.

The driver of the Mack, a 56-year-old man from Palos Heights, was not injured. The semi, owned by ZWW Trucking out of Palos Heights, was loaded with more than 60,000 pounds of cardboard and drums. No load was lost but the trailer had to be towed because of damage to its rear tandems.

The minivan was driven by Joaquin DeJesus, 37 of Maywood, the release said. He was taken to Northlake Methodist Hospital in Gary with a laceration to his head and chest injuries. The minivan was split in two by the impact and was loaded with car parts that were strewn across three lanes of eastbound traffic.

A second semi, 1998 Freightliner pulling a box trailer, that was traveling in the right middle lane hit some of the debris and his driver's side running board was damaged. The driver of that semi was not injured.

Traffic along the expressway was snarled for about two miles between mile-marker 3, near Kennedy Avenue, and mile-marker 5 by Cline Avenue, according to the Indiana Department of Transportation. All lanes of traffic except the left shoulder were closed until 5:58 a.m. for cleanup of the road and removal of the vehicles and the injured man. All lanes were reopened at 7:10 a.m.