The SUV carrying US Rep Jackie Walorski crossed the centerline of an Indiana highway on Wednesday, sparking the head-on collision that killed the representative and three others, according to new information from the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office.
The law enforcement agency had initially told reporters that the second vehicle, driven by Edith Schmucker, 56, of Nappanee, Indiana, had crossed the centerline and caused the collision.
“The information from the preliminary investigation at the scene, as to the direction of travel of the vehicles, was not correct,” the Sheriff’s office said in a statement Thursday.
Walorski, 58, was riding in a Toyota Rav 4 driven by St. Joseph County Republican Party chairman Zachery Potts, 27, when the SUV “crossed the centerline for reasons that are unknown,” the Sheriff’s office said.
The representative’s press secretary, Emma Thomson, 28, was also a passenger in the SUV.
The Toyota hit Schmucker’s Buick LeSabre head-on.
Walorski, Schmucker, Potts and Thomson all died as a result of the crash.
All four were wearing their seatbelts, and airbags deployed in both vehicles, police said.
The incident remains under investigation.
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