A tragic crash in Fort Wayne has claimed the life of a 20-year-old, identified by the Allen County Coroner's Office as Robert James Burnett IV. The single-vehicle accident occurred in the 3000 block of North Wells Street, marking him as the 22nd traffic fatality in the county for the year, WISH-TV reports.
The circumstances of the crash, as per the coroner, indicate the cause of death to be blunt force trauma, presumably due to the vehicle leaving the road flipping over this narrative aligns with witness accounts given to the Fort Wayne Police Department, which were cited in a statement acquired by 21Alive News. According to investigators, speed appears to have been a contributing factor.
First responders encountered an unresponsive person inside a sedan when they arrived at the scene near Wells Street and Wallywood Avenue, which was promptly closed off during the early hours of the investigation but subsequently reopened. US 93.3 FM notes that the incident happened just after 8 a.m., causing part of Wells Street to be inaccessible for a time ranging from Mildred Avenue to Franke Park Drive near the Allen County Juvenile Center.
The investigation is ongoing and is being conducted by the Fort Wayne Police Department and the Allen County Coroner’s Office it has spawned a parallel inquiry specifically into the role that speed played, as highlighted in an FWPD statement stating, "It appears that speed was a factor in the crash," as mentioned by US 93.3 FM. More details are expected as the FWPD FACT team continues to examine the case.
