MARION, Ind. — An Ontario truck driver was killed early Thursday, November 5, when his semi-truck left Interstate 69 in Grant County, Indiana, and overturned, the Indiana State Police said in preliminary findings reported by 21Alive, WOWO and the Kokomo Tribune. Lee R. Lauzon, 60, of Ontario, Canada, was pronounced dead at the scene by the Grant County Coroner’s Office.
Source: 21Alive (WANE), reporting the Indiana State Police
State police said Lauzon was driving the 2021 Freightliner, with its trailer attached, southbound on I-69 near mile marker 269, close to the city of Marion, when the truck left the roadway for a reason that is still undetermined and rolled over. No other vehicles were reported involved, and Lauzon was the only person in the crash reported by police.
Cause still undetermined, police say
Master Trooper Weston Shanks handled the preliminary investigation for the Indiana State Police. He was assisted by other state police officers, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, the Washington Township Volunteer Fire Department and the Grant County Coroner’s Office, according to the reports of the state police account.
Investigators were clear about two things they have ruled out at this stage: police said they do not suspect alcohol or narcotics played a part. Beyond that, the state police have released no finding on why the Freightliner left the road — they have not publicly attributed the crash to a mechanical failure, a medical event, road conditions or any other specific cause, and the investigation remains active.
A Canadian driver on a Canada-linked freight corridor
Interstate 69 is one of the main freight routes between the U.S. Midwest and Canada. In Indiana it runs from Indianapolis northeast through Fort Wayne to the Michigan line, and the I-69 corridor continues north to Port Huron, Michigan, where the Blue Water Bridge crosses into Sarnia, Ontario. Ontario-based drivers — including many Punjabi-Canadian long-haul truckers who run cross-border freight for a living — travel this corridor routinely, in both directions, at all hours.
That is the context in which Lauzon’s death will be read by the trucking community on both sides of the border: a 60-year-old Canadian driver, on a southbound run in Indiana in the early morning, whose truck left the highway for a reason investigators have not yet established. Police have not linked this crash to fatigue or to any other single factor, and readers should treat the cause as open until the state police say otherwise.
Confirmed by the Indiana State Police: the time (shortly after 6 a.m., Nov. 5), the place (I-69 southbound, mile marker 269, Grant County), the vehicle (a 2021 Freightliner with trailer), the driver’s identity and death at the scene, and that alcohol and narcotics are not suspected. Not yet established: why the truck left the roadway.
What happens next
The Indiana State Police investigation continues, and any finding on why the truck left the road will come from that inquiry. The reports carried no details about Lauzon’s employer, his load, or funeral arrangements, and state police had not announced any further briefing as of the latest reports. Awaaz Punjab will update this story if the state police release a cause.
Our condolences are with Lauzon’s family in Ontario and with the colleagues who shared the road with him. Single-vehicle rollovers remain one of the deadliest kinds of crashes for long-haul drivers, which is why the state police findings in cases like this one matter to every driver who runs the corridor.