La PORTE, IN : Identities of Tuesday crash victims released on Tuesday, January 17th 2017

The identities of victims involved in a deadly crash on U.S. 20 near Fail Road on Tuesday have been identified by the La Porte County Sheriff’s Department
The four-vehicle crash killed three and critically injured two others. Another two who were involved refused medical treatment at the scene. The Sheriff’s Department also reports that a Rottweiler puppy was found deceased in one of the vehicles, believed to have been killed upon impact.
In one vehicle, a tan Buick, which was traveling eastbound on U.S. 20, the driver, Jeffery Williams, 33, of Gary, Indiana, was pronounced dead at the scene, as was the passenger, Catrina Bontrager, age 30, of Goshen, Indiana.
In the second vehicle, a silver Hyundai, which was traveling westbound, passenger Michael Nahhas, age 23, of Niles, Illinois, was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver, Issa Sweilem, age 27, of Niles, Illinois, was taken to South Bend Memorial Hospital in critical condition, as was a second passenger, Joseph Ghandour, age 26, of Niles, Illinois. The puppy was also in this vehicle.
Mark Moore, age 48, of Chicago, the driver of a third vehicle, a gray Infinity, which was traveling westbound, had no reported injuries.
Ronald Rector, age 61, of Fair Oaks, Indiana, was the driver of a gray Kenworth semi tractor-trailer, which was traveling westbound. He also reported no injuries.
The preliminary investigation indicates that the eastbound Buick traveled left of the center line, first striking the westbound Hyundai and resulting in a chain reaction crash involving the four vehicles. The cause for the vehicle to travel left of center is not yet known. Drugs and alcohol have been ruled out as testing indicated negative results. La Porte County Coroner Bob Cutler ruled that the cause of death in all three victims was massive blunt force trauma.
U.S. 20 was closed from roughly 1 to 5:45 p.m. while the crash was investigated and the scene cleared of vehicles and debris. Sheriff’s Deputy Robert Greer, who was the reporting officer for the crash, credited the semi-truck driver with preventing additional crashes.
“Following the initial crash, Mr. Rector was able to steer the tractor trailer, which suffered significant front end damage, away from other vehicles and opted to drive into the embankment on the south side of U.S. 20,” Greer said. “His efforts kept other vehicles from being struck.”
La Porte County Sheriff John Boyd offered praise for all of the emergency services that responded to the call.
“As you would imagine, when a call comes in reporting a crash of this severity, the response by police, fire, coroners and the emergency medical service is large,” Boyd said. “Everyone worked well together to quickly render aid, reroute traffic and then begin the arduous task of reconstructing the crash scene. We would also like to commend the men and women of INDOT, who responded with nearly a dozen vehicles and staff to help close a large section of U.S. 20 and reroute traffic while the investigation occurred.”
The La Porte County Sheriff’s FACT unit is continuing the investigation and will release their findings once they have been completed.

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Identities of Tuesday crash victims released