South Bend man faces OWI charges in fatal crash Friday night at Lincoln Way and Sherman
SOUTH BEND — A South Bend man has been arrested in St. Joseph County on charges in connection with a two-car accident that resulted in the death of the man's passenger.
Walter E. Allen, 49, has been charged with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated causing a death and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated causing serious bodily injury. He is scheduled to appear in St. Joseph County Superior Court Monday. He is being held without bond in the St. Joseph County Jail.
According to a news release from the St. Joseph County Fatal Crash Team (FACT), Allen reportedly was driving east on Lincoln Way West about 10:18 p.m. Friday near Sherman Avenue trying to pass another eastbound vehicle when his car crashed into a westbound vehicle on Lincoln Way driven by Hanna N. Sawyer, 18.
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A passenger in Allen's car, Donnivan Allen, 53, of South Bend, was taken to a local hospital and later died of injuries, officials said.
Sawyer also was taken to a local hospital and was recovering from injuries from the crash.
Sawyer, interviewed by WNDU-TV over the weekend, said she had graduated four hours earlier on Friday from Riley High School and was running an errand for her mother when the accident occurred.
Sawyer said she suffered leg and pelvic injuries that, WNDU reported, required the insertion of a rod in her right leg and that she hit her head on the car's windshield. The family car was destroyed in the crash, she said.
“The whole front end of the car was completely smashed in, so there was basically no front of the car," Sawyer told WNDU. "They told me I was not supposed to survive that. They told me I was very lucky to have (survived) though.”
Email Tribune staff writer Greg Swiercz at gswiercz@sbtinfo.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend man faces OWI charges for crash that killed his passsenger
