(STEUBEN COUNTY) – A semi driver is dead after a multiple vehicle accident on the Indiana Toll Road.

At 5:15 PM Friday, the Indiana State Police were called to a personal injury crash between two semis and a pick up in the westbound lane at the 146.6 mile marker near Fremont.

The preliminary investigation shows that a 2020 Freightliner semi, driven by 34 year old Melvin Alexander of Atlanta, Georgia, was heading west and approaching stopped traffic due to a car fire incident. The Freightliner failed to slow down or stop for the traffic back up and swerved to the right to avoid colliding with a pick up. The semi swiped the passenger side of the pick up and then struck the rear of a 2008 Mack semi.

The impact caused extreme damage to the cab of the Freightliner, with Alexander and his passenger becoming trapped inside and had to be removed by the Fremont Fire Department.

Alexander was pronounced dead at the scene. His passenger, an adult man, was taken to a Fort Wayne area hospital to be treated with unknown injuries.

The driver of the pickup and the other semi were not injured, but were taken to the hospital to be examined and for chemical testing which is required by Indiana law.

The westbound lanes of Toll Road were shut down for over five hours.