Name released in fatal crash

VIGO COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - An accident leaves one person dead.

It happened around 12:15 Thursday afternoon.

Cars were stopped at a red light at the intersection of 56th and US 41, this is directly in front of the south side Wal-Mart in Terre Haute.

Sheriff Greg Ewing says the semi driver was inattentive and claimed something fell off his seat, which distracted him from the road.

The semi hit the victim’s pickup truck and forced it into another vehicle.

There were a total of six vehicles damaged all together from this crash.

Three of those were damaged by flying debris, and the domino effect.

Sheriff Ewing says there was no evidence of braking before the impact.
    
“This is a classic example here of it just takes a split second for you to divert your attention from driving. This particular semi was hauling steel, so you couple the speed along with the weight of the vehicle. For him to drive, to get that truck stopped at 55 miles per hour would take about the length of a football field,” Sheriff Ewing said.  

Sheriff Ewing believed the driver of the pick-up truck, Charlotte Ellis, 80, of Pimento was killed on impact.

The preliminary investigation reveals there seems to be no evidence that the brakes in the semi were dysfunctional.