A Bloomville couple was killed and a 19-year-old driver was flown to a Columbus hospital Tuesday morning in a three-vehicle crash that shut down part of U.S. 30 in Crawford County for about two and a half hours, according to the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office.
The crash was reported at 6:27 a.m. on U.S. 30 west of State Route 602 in Whetstone Township, in the eastbound lanes, the sheriff’s office said in a news release reported by the Shelby News Reporter. Thomas Ward, 72, was driving a 2024 Toyota Sienna eastbound, with his wife, Kathy Ward, 73, in the front passenger seat. Both died at the scene, the sheriff’s office said. The Wards were from rural Bloomville.
Investigators said the chain of events began in the westbound lanes. A westbound 2006 Lincoln Mark LT pickup truck sideswiped a westbound semi-truck traveling in the right-hand lane, according to the sheriff’s office’s preliminary investigation.
After that first contact, the pickup left the roadway to the left, entered the median and struck the embankment of an emergency turnaround between the eastbound and westbound lanes, losing control, the news release states. The pickup then entered the eastbound lanes and struck the Wards’ Toyota Sienna.
The pickup’s driver, a 19-year-old from Broadview Heights, was flown from the scene by medical helicopter to an Ohio State University hospital, the sheriff’s office said. His name and condition were not released in the sheriff’s account. The sheriff’s release did not report injuries to the semi-truck driver.
U.S. 30 eastbound was shut down from County Road 330, at East Junction, to State Route 602 for roughly two and a half hours while crews worked the scene, according to the sheriff’s office.
Responding alongside the sheriff’s office were the Whetstone Township Volunteer Fire Department, the Jefferson Township Volunteer Fire Department, Life First EMS, the Crawford County Coroner’s Office, MedFlight and the Ohio Department of Transportation, the sheriff’s office said.
The crash remains under investigation by the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office. No charges or additional details were announced in the release, and NewsForce247 will update this story if the sheriff’s office releases the pickup driver’s identity or condition, or any findings on what caused the pickup to sideswipe the semi.