Fatal Motorcycle Accident Sunday
On Sunday, April 11, 2021 at 9:00 PM, the Porter County Coroner’s Office was dispatched to the area of Route 49 North and East 950 West regarding a motorcycle vs SUV resulting in a fatality, according to The Porter County Coroners Office.
The motorcycle rider, identified as 32-year-old Justin Barnes of LaPorte, was pronounced dead on scene. Chesterton PD and Porter PD are assisting with the investigation.
Chesterton Police said, at 7:45 p.m. Barnes, following a companion on a second bike, had just turned left from southbound Ind. 49 onto southbound North Calumet Ave. when, approximately 500 feet from the intersection, he crossed the center line for unknown reasons and struck a second vehicle northbound on North Calumet Ave.
Barnes was ejected from his motorcycle, the CPD said, and though his companionhad begun to administer CPR when first-responders arrived, he was declared deceased at the scene.
The driver of the second vehicle, a Chesterton resident, advised investigators that he had set his cruise control at approximately 42 miles per hour at the time of the crash, in a zone posted at 40 mph, and that the two motorcyclists were traveling in single-file, roughly 50 feet apart.
The driver of the second vehicle, a 2006 Toyota Highlander, stated that the first motorcycle passed him going south but the first one, “for an unknown reason, crossed the center line and struck his vehicle directly in the hood/front end,” the Chesterton Police said. He further stated that “he watched the motorcycle cross the center line and his headlight get brighter and closer before colliding.”
A crash reconstructionist with the Porter PD subsequently confirmed the account given by the driver of the second vehicle: that Barnes did cross the center line and that the crash did occur in the northbound lane of North Calumet Ave., the Chesterton Police said.
The driver of the second vehicle—who the CPD said showed no signs of being under the influence—voluntarily submitted to a blood draw, the CPD said. The results of that blood draw are pending.
Also responding to the scene were the Chesterton Fire Department, which provided lighting and applied oil dry to the roadway; and Northwest Health-Porter EMS.
