What Happened
Two people were injured, one seriously, when a towed equipment trailer jackknifed on U.S. 35 south of Delaware Road in Cass County at about 2:05 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, according to the Cass County Sheriff's Office, as reported by the Logansport Pharos-Tribune[1]. The sheriff's office said the trailer began to sway and jackknifed, and that the tractor and backhoe it was carrying partially detached and struck an oncoming SUV.
The sheriff's office reported that a 2017 Ram pickup driven by Gene Myers, 77, of rural Kokomo was towing a tandem-axle trailer loaded with a Case tractor and backhoe when the trailer began to sway and jackknifed. The tractor and backhoe partially detached from the trailer and struck an oncoming 2011 Hyundai Santa Fe. The Hyundai's driver, Ruth VanMeter, 63, of Lakewood, Colorado, suffered serious injuries and was flown by medical helicopter to a Fort Wayne trauma center. Her passenger, David Sanders, 54, of Aurora, Colorado, was taken to Parkview Logansport with non-life-threatening injuries.
Entrapment was reported at the scene. Myers and his passenger, Diana Myers, refused treatment. Cass County Fire District 1, the Logansport Fire Department, Cass County EMS, Logansport Police and Cass County EMA responded, and the highway was closed for about an hour and a half. The sheriff's office said alcohol was not a factor. No citations or arrests were reported, and the investigation is ongoing.
What Should Accident Victims Do Next?
Anyone injured in a crash like this should be evaluated promptly and follow up, since crush and impact injuries can worsen or reveal themselves over the following days. Practical steps matter, too: get the crash report number and the responding agency, photograph the vehicles and the scene if possible, and collect the names of witnesses. Out-of-state travelers face an added wrinkle, because the claim is generally governed by Indiana law and the physical evidence stays in Indiana even after they go home. Declining a recorded statement to any insurer until the investigation is complete is usually the safer course. For a broader checklist, see what to do after an injury accident in Allen County, Indiana, much of which applies statewide.
Who Is Responsible When a Towed Load Comes Loose
Anyone who tows a load has a duty to secure it. A driver is responsible for confirming that the trailer is properly hitched and chained, that the load is within the trailer's rating, and that the equipment is blocked and tied down so it stays put. Trailer sway and jackknifing are commonly linked to loading and weight distribution as well as speed, though nothing about the cause here has been established beyond the sheriff's account.
Responsibility in a detached-load case is not always limited to the driver. Depending on what an investigation shows, it can extend to the owner of the equipment being hauled, to an employer or business if the haul was being made in the course of work, or to the manufacturer or seller of a hitch, coupler, chain, or trailer component if the hardware failed rather than being misused. Whether the haul here was commercial has not been reported, and no hardware failure has been established. Sorting out these possibilities usually depends on documents and parts, not memory. Anyone unsure how liability might be divided among multiple parties can review how fault questions play out generally for a negligence claim in Indiana.
That is why preservation matters so much in these cases. The trailer, hitch, coupler, safety chains, tie-down straps and binders should be photographed and kept in the condition they were in after the crash, ideally before repairs or salvage. A written preservation letter to the vehicle owner, the tow yard and any insurer can prevent evidence from disappearing. Indiana applies modified comparative fault, meaning an injured person's recovery is reduced by their own share of fault and eliminated if that share exceeds 50 percent (see Indiana's 51% fault rule explained), and most Indiana injury claims must be filed within two years of the crash under Indiana Code 34-11-2-4[2].
Talk to a Personal Injury Attorney
Delventhal Law Office represents people injured in Indiana trailer, towing and heavy-equipment crashes. Attorney Chad Delventhal works to identify every party who may share responsibility and to preserve the hardware and records that answer why a load came loose. Anyone with questions about a crash like this one is welcome to schedule a free case evaluation or learn more about the firm's approach to Fort Wayne accident cases.
This post is based on public reporting from the Logansport Pharos-Tribune and the Cass County Sheriff's Office. The investigation into this crash may still be ongoing, and details could change as more information becomes available. Nothing in this post is legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship with Delventhal Law Office.
