WARSAW — The driver of a semi-tractor-trailer truck that veered off a four-lane highway and struck the Texas Roadhouse restaurant in Warsaw has died.

The accident on SR 15 on Warsaw's north side happened around 2:54  p.m. Thursday before the business opened for business.

An initial investigation, coupled with eyewitness accounts, determined that the semi, a grain hauler, was southbound on SR 15 through 350N, according to a news release from the Warsaw Police Department.

The driver, identified as Lloyd Dale Howard, 77 , of Culver, was observed slumped over at the wheel as the semi-tractor-trailer veered to the right off the road and into a deep ditch before it crossed over an access road and into the restaurant parking lot.

CPR was administered to Howard, but he was pronounced dead by Kosciusko County Coroner Tyler Huffer at Lutheran Kosciusko Hospital a short time later.

Before striking the restaurant, the truck hit a NIPSCO electrical box, which caused transformer oil to leak out in the parking lot.

No employees in the store were injured.

The building sustained structural damage and an electrical box in the parking lot was damaged as the truck headed toward the building.

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