Driver charged in death of Duneland teacher seven months after six-car wreck in Portage
Seven months to the day after a Portage car crash involving six vehicles in which a Chesterton Middle School teacher died, a Portage man was charged with felony counts of reckless homicide and criminal recklessness after, according to court documents, driving well over 100 mph in the seconds before the crash.
Arthur Schmidt, 42, is in custody at Porter County Jail for charges from the wreck in which Lauren Thompson, 24, of Valparaiso, died on Nov. 8, 2022. Bond was set at $4,000, according to online court records. An initial hearing has yet to be scheduled before Porter Superior Court Judge Michael Fish.
Multiple witnesses told investigators that Schmidt was driving at a high rate of speed, weaving around cars and running red lights before the crash, according to the charging documents, and that they knew he was going to hit the vehicles going east and west on Lute Road as he ran a red light on Willowcreek Road.
Charges were filed Thursday and unsealed Friday. Schmidt, according to a release from Portage Police Department public information officer Lt. Rob Maynard, was taken into custody at 4 p.m. Thursday at his home by officers from that department.
“We want to thank the Officers and Detectives of the Portage Police Department who investigated this case as well as the members of the Porter County Prosecutor’s Office who dedicated many hours to meticulously prepare this case for prosecution in order to reach the point of an arrest being made, Maynard said in a release. “We of course continue to express our sympathies and extend our condolences to the Thompson family and all of those whose lives have been tragically affected by this crash.”
In the weeks after the crash, as community curiosity and criticism about the lack of charges continued to mount, Porter County Prosecutor Gary Germann and Portage Police Chief Michael Candiano said several factors contributed to the delay. Those included Schmidt’s hospitalization for injuries he sustained in the wreck and the amount of time it took to get his medical records from the University of Chicago Medical Center with a subpoena.
Thompson, who died at the scene, was in her second year as an English teacher at the middle school at the time of her death. Schmidt, who had to be extricated from his vehicle, suffered serious head and internal injuries in the crash. Another driver also was injured; other drivers and passengers were checked for injuries at the scene.
The accident occurred around 5:45 p.m. that Tuesday in November at the intersection of Willowcreek and Lute roads.
The speed limit on Willowcreek Road is 40 mph, according to the charges, and is 35 mph on Lute. Schmidt was driving a gray 2016 Cadillac SRX SUV and was heading south on Willowcreek Road going “really, really fast,” a witness told police, and went through the red light.
Another witness told police that Schmidt was on his cellphone and went through two red lights as he went south on Willowcreek Road, one at Stone Avenue and another at Robbins Road, before his car “crashed into vehicles” at Willowcreek and Lute, according to court documents.
Schmidt’s SUV struck Thompson’s white, 2016 GMC Terrain first, pushing it into another car, and then hit several other vehicles.
One witness told investigators that Schmidt’s SUV sped by her on Willowcreek Road at around 90 mph and that it “shook her car as it passed her and also ran the red light at Willowcreek and Stone,” documents state. She was getting ready to call police about a reckless driver, “however came across the crash before she could make the phone call.”
Another witness told police that “based on the speed the Cadillac was going, he knew it was going to collide with vehicles at the intersection.”
Police, according to the charges, found a jumble of cars at the intersection after the wreck.
The speedometer on Schmidt’s car the evening of the crash “showed the needle was stuck in place at the 122 mph mark,” charges state. Investigators downloaded information from the event data recorder in Schmidt’s SUV.
The download showed that five seconds before the crash, Schmidt’s SUV was traveling at 113 mph and the accelerator was at 98%. Half a second before impact, with the brakes on, the vehicle’s speed was at 107 mph.
Duneland school officials lauded Thompson and her commitment to teaching.
“Lauren was a shining star on the CMS faculty and was loved by her students and fellow staff members,” Principal Mike Hamacher said then. “This is a great loss to our students, faculty and staff members.”
“We are devastated. Our prayers go out to her husband and family. It is with great sorrow that we provide support and comfort to our students and staff,” said Duneland School Corporation Superintendent Chip Pettit.
In a statement to her students and their families on the Duneland School Corporation website, Thompson said she graduated from Purdue University Northwest in Westville in 2020 and was in her third year as a teacher.
She lived with her husband and their two golden doodles, she said in the post, and her favorite things to do included thrifting, reading thrillers, watching movies and being in the sun.
“I love being an English teacher, as I get to share my passion of learning and reading with my students,” Thompson said in her post. “It is so wonderful meeting my students on the first day and watching them grow throughout the year. I am looking forward to a great year!”
