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Westville man dies after crashing into building

Times Correspondent

MICHIGAN CITY — A 19-year-old man was killed Wednesday morning when the car he was driving plowed into the side of a building, leaving a gaping hole in the wall.

The driver, Joshua Livergood of Westville, had a blood alcohol content of .257, said LaPorte County Chief Deputy Coroner Mark Huffman.

Livergood was still buckled into the 2007 Chevy Cobalt when pronounced dead at the scene.

According to Michigan City police, the car was northbound on Franklin Street at a high rate of speed at about 3:30 a.m. when he lost control and veered into the southbound lanes where he sideswiped an oncoming Ford Taurus.

The car was flipping over on its side when its roof struck the side of a brick building once home to the former Gielow TV service business in the 2800 block of Franklin Street near Ames Field.

The car came to rest on its wheels outside the structure, Huffman said.

Huffman estimated the hole in the exterior wall measured about 12 feet across with the bottom of the hole being five to six feet off the ground.

''You could literally jump through it and walk into the building,'' said Huffman.

Huffman said Livergood's family members didn't know where he might have been going or where he had gone earlier during the night.

Several businesses have occupied the building since Gielow TV shutdown many years ago and currently sits empty, Huffman said.