La Porte, IN (September 16, 2026) – On J Street at the curve with Lincolnway, a car carrying seven passengers left the roadway and struck a brick support pillar at a Smoke Shop, injuring several teenagers.
The crash happened about 10:30 p.m. on September 16, 2026. Police said the 2019 Kia sustained extensive front-end damage. Two of the injured teens were taken by ambulance and later transferred to a hospital in South Bend, one with a broken leg and the other with injuries to the mid-section. At least two other juveniles were taken to Northwest Health.
The driver, 18-year-old Miguel Garcia-Farias, was arrested for underage drinking. Police said he was not legally impaired. According to police, the vehicle held seven passengers, though it has room to seat only five people.
Car Accidents in La Porte, Indiana
An overcrowded vehicle changes how a crash plays out. Seatbelts designed for one occupant per seating position cannot properly restrain passengers doubled up or seated where there is no belt at all, which raises the odds of serious injury even in a crash the vehicle might otherwise survive.
- Who may be liable: the driver, and potentially the vehicle’s owner if it was lent out knowing it would carry more passengers than it was rated for
- What investigators examine: seating capacity, seatbelt use at each position, and whether alcohol played any role in the driver’s actions that night
- Injured passengers are not held to the driver’s fault. Indiana’s comparative fault law (IC 34-51-2-6) generally does not reduce a passenger’s recovery for choices the driver made
Indiana law generally gives injury victims two years from the date of the crash to file a claim (IC 34-11-2-4). Based on the September 16, 2026 date of this crash, that deadline falls on September 16, 2028. Because several of the injured passengers are minors, how that filing window applies to each of them can differ, and that’s worth discussing with an attorney directly rather than assuming the standard date controls.
Contact Our Indiana Car Accident Attorneys
Parents of an injured teenager are often relieved their child survived and furious that a night out turned into a hospital visit at the same time. Both reactions are fair, and neither one has to wait for the other to settle before you look into what happened.
Our Indiana car accident lawyers have represented young passengers hurt as riders in crashes they had no control over, and we know how to build a claim around a driver’s own arrest record and an overloaded vehicle.
Police reports, the vehicle’s damage, and any passenger seating details are worth locking down now, before memories fade or the car is repaired and sold.
We work on contingency, so there’s no upfront cost and nothing owed unless we win.
Why Indiana families have trusted Langer & Langer for over 45 years:
- Founded 1980, over 45 years serving Indiana families
- 100+ years of combined legal experience
- Recognized by Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers, Indiana Trial Lawyers Association, American College of Trial Lawyers
Talk With an Indiana Car Accident Attorney at (219) 245-5881
