LaPorte County, IN (August 12, 2026) – A 32-year-old Florida man died after his semi-truck struck the back of a second semi late Wednesday night at the intersection of U.S. 30 and State Road 39, police said.
Police said the crash happened around 10:15 p.m. on August 12, when Johnny Rodriguez was driving east on U.S. 30 and failed to slow down before hitting the rear of a second semi. According to investigators, the traffic signal at the intersection was not operating at the time of the crash.
The second semi was driven by a 28-year-old California man who had stopped at the intersection because of the inoperative signal.
Rodriguez died at the scene. The crash remains under investigation.
This is a developing story. Details may change as the investigation continues.
Fatal Commercial Vehicle Crashes in LaPorte County, Indiana
Two semi-trucks colliding at a dark intersection raises questions that go beyond who was following too closely.
- Liability can extend past the driver to the trucking company, a dispatcher, or a maintenance contractor, all subject to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rules governing hours of service and vehicle upkeep.
- If the signal was already malfunctioning before the crash, the agency responsible for maintaining it, whether INDOT or a local authority, may share responsibility for failing to repair or flag the outage.
- An early report that one driver failed to slow down is not the final word on fault. Indiana’s modified comparative fault rule (IC 34-51-2-6) allows a family to recover as long as Rodriguez is found less than 51% responsible.
- Indiana gives a family two years from the date of death to file a wrongful death claim (IC 34-23-1-1). For this crash, that deadline falls on August 12, 2028. If a state agency maintained the signal, Indiana law requires notice within 270 days, or by May 9, 2027 (IC 34-13-3-6), a far shorter window that can end a claim against the state if missed.
Contact Our Indiana Wrongful Death Attorneys
Losing a family member in a crash where the intersection’s own signal had failed leaves a family with questions about the road as much as about the other driver.
Langer & Langer has represented Indiana families in fatal highway and trucking crashes for more than 45 years. An Indiana wrongful death lawyer from our firm can begin requesting the signal’s maintenance history and the trucking company’s safety records before either gets erased on a routine schedule.
Signal outage logs and a carrier’s driver files are both time-sensitive, more so than in an ordinary car accident claim.
We take these cases on contingency, so there is no upfront cost to a grieving family and nothing owed unless we recover.
Why Indiana families trust Langer & Langer:
- Founded in 1980, serving Indiana families for more than 45 years
- 100+ years of combined legal experience among our attorneys
- Recognized by Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers, the Indiana Trial Lawyers Association, and the American College of Trial Lawyers
