Indiana FD/EMT Lt.Keith Clark and family fatal MVA

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Very sad news out of Indiana today. My thoughts are with their families and community. May they all rest in peace and may the little girl who survived get all the care and love in the world.

Walkerton firefighter, wife and child die in car crash

Lt. Keith Clark, his girlfriend Alice Hudson, and their two daughters were on their way to visit family in Illinois

Posted: 04/30/2006 11:36 pm

Story filed by NewsCenter16 Reporter

Stephanie Stang

Walkerton, IN - The town of Walkerton is mourning the loss of volunteer firefighter and EMT.

Sunday morning a lieutenant in the Walkerton Volunteer Fire Department and two family members were killed in single car crash along US 6 in LaPorte County.

Two dozen volunteer firefighters at Walkerton Fire Department are coming together and grieving the loss a fellow firefighter and his two family members.

Lt. Keith Clark, his girlfriend Alice Hudson, and their two daughters were on their way to visit family in Illinois when authorities say their car hydroplaned on US 6, spun off the road and hit a tree.

Deputy Coroner John Sullivan said Sunday, “If the tree hadn't been there they might have just ran off the road. But stuff like this you can ‘what if’ it to death and I covered many of these accidents and I’ve been in EMS fire service for 27 years and you can't explain why it happens. It’s just fate.â€

Clark, his girlfriend, and their 9-year-old daughter Kelsey were all killed.

However, the youngest daughter, Kirsten, did survive.

Deputy Brian Crail of the LaPorte County Sheriff’s Department said, “They appeared to be okay at that time. They were flown out on MedPoint.â€

LaPorte County Deputy Coroner John Sullivan knew when he found Clark’s pager that he was a firefighter, too.

Explained Sullivan, “It really hits home for me. My main job is a LaPorte City firefighter when you see the fireman's shirt and his portable and his pager and his badge and you just think oh know its a fireman's death.â€

Clark not only volunteered with Walkerton Fire for 12 years but served as a reserve officer with Hamlet Police, as well as an EMT in Walkerton.

Authorities say all four people in the truck were belted-in and alcohol was not a factor.

However, the rainy weather and curvy road made a trip to see family deadly.

The only survivor of the day's crash, Kirsten Clark, is listed in good condition at South Bend Memorial Hospital. She was in a child safety seat at the time of the crash.

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Tragedy. Thank God the little one was in a child safety seat.