(La Porte County, IN) - Police say alcohol was a factor in a driver being seriously hurt in a collision with a tree near Michigan City over the weekend.

At about 1 a.m. yesterday, emergency responders were called to Johnson Road and County Road 625 West where a heavily damaged 2020 Volkswagen was resting against a tree. There, several people reportedly stopped to assist the driver, 39-year-old Jerome Vann, who had an odor of alcohol on his breath.

Police said there were no witnesses and Vann, being difficult with investigators, would not reveal how the crash occurred.

He was taken to the hospital in La Porte for a blood drawing, which revealed a blood alcohol level allegedly close to three times the legal limit. Vann was not arrested but allowed to remain at the hospital for treatment of a broken arm, broken sternum, and bleeding in his chest.

Authorities note that he will be taken into custody on an OWI charge once released from the hospital if prosecutors and a judge, after reviewing the evidence, decide to press charges.