LaPorte County, IN (September 26, 2026) – On the 2900 block of North Fail Road, a driver crossed the center line and struck another vehicle, killing a 77-year-old Warsaw woman, according to the LaPorte County Sheriff’s Department.
Deputies were called to the scene around 12:15 p.m. on September 26, 2026. An initial investigation found that a 38-year-old LaPorte man was driving north on Fail Road when he crossed the center line and struck another vehicle traveling in the opposite direction.
The driver of the vehicle that was struck, a 71-year-old Warsaw man, and his passenger, 77-year-old Lana Pratt of Warsaw, were taken to the hospital for their injuries. Pratt later died.
Police say the driver who crossed the center line suffered an upper body injury and was also taken to the hospital. Toxicology results are pending, and the investigation remains open.
Car Accidents in Indiana
Crossing the center line into oncoming traffic is one of the clearest fault indicators a crash can produce, though pending toxicology results may add another layer to what happened on Fail Road.
- See a doctor promptly, even for injuries that don’t seem serious at first, since some symptoms take days to surface
- Avoid giving a statement to the other driver’s insurance company before speaking with an attorney
- Preserve the vehicles involved and any dash camera footage from the area before repairs or scrapping erase that evidence
- Hold off on accepting any settlement offer until the full extent of the injuries and the toxicology results are known
Indiana’s wrongful death statute generally requires a claim to be filed within two years of the date of death (IC 34-23-1-1). For this crash, that deadline falls on September 26, 2028. The surviving driver’s injury claim carries the same two-year window under IC 34-11-2-4.
Contact Our Indiana Car Accident Attorneys
Losing a 77-year-old wife and mother to a crash that should never have happened leaves a family searching for something solid to hold onto in the middle of the worst week of their lives.
Our Indiana car accident attorneys handle center-line crash cases across the state, working with crash reconstruction experts and pushing for the toxicology results and police findings that establish exactly what happened on Fail Road.
Physical evidence from a rural crash site gets cleared quickly once the road reopens, so the sooner an investigation begins independent of the county’s own timeline, the more there is to work with.
Pratt’s husband is also recovering from his own injuries from this crash, and Indiana law gives him two years to bring his own claim, a deadline that runs out faster than most people expect.
Why Indiana families trust Langer & Langer:
- Founded in 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
