Three people were injured after a crash on I-80/94 in which police say was caused by a driver who’s charged with OWI.

It was around 4 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28, when Indiana State Troopers from the Lowell Post were dispatched to eastbound I-80/94 near the Kennedy Ave. exit.

The preliminary investigation showed that a black Nissan Versa struck an arrow-board sign that was on the right shoulder which was warning traffic of an approaching lane shift. The crash resulted in the arrow-board landing in the travel portion of the roadway. Two secondary crashes then occurred as those drivers were attempting to avoid the debris in the roadway from the original crash.

As a result, the driver of one of the vehicles was pinned in their van, had to be extricated, and then air-lifted to Chicago for treatment of potential life-threatening injuries. A second driver, that was operating a black GMC pickup, was also later air-lifted to Oak Lawn for treatment of serious injuries. The third driver received minor injuries.

The original driver in the crash that struck the sign, Rivianna Gilmore, 33, of Calumet Park, IL, showed signs of impairment at the scene and an O.W.I. The driver consented to a blood draw at a local hospital. The results of that test are pending analysis by the Indiana Department of Toxicology. After being cleared at the hospital, Gilmore was transported to the Lake County Jail where she is preliminarily charged with the following offenses:

Operating While Intoxicated Causing Serious Injury- Level 5 Felony
Operating While Intoxicated Endangering- Class A Misdemeanor
Operating While Intoxicated- Class C Misdemeanor
Possession of Marijuana- Class B Misdemeanor

Additional charges may be filed later by the Lake County Prosecutor at the conclusion of the crash investigation.

The interstate lanes were closed for several hours for crash scene reconstruction and the removal of the vehicles and debris.