TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) – Authorities now say three people have died in snowy crashes involving at least 50 vehicles on the Ohio Turnpike.
Pileups stretched across a two-mile section in the eastbound lanes of the toll road Wednesday afternoon between Toledo and Cleveland.
Two people were killed in the initial crash zone, which involved approximately 16 vehicles: Hannah Matheny, 20, of Parma, who was a passenger in a Ford Focus and Grzegorz Piwowarczyk, 42, a truck driver from Palatine, Ill., the patrol announced Thursday
Janice M. Robb, 66, of Schererville, Ind., was killed in a second crash zone, involving approximately 20 vehicles, about a mile behind the first.
A State Highway Patrol trooper responding to the first accident was seriously injured when he was trapped between two vehicles.
“The road conditions were poor, people couldn’t get stopped in time and he actually got pinned between the vehicles,” Lt. Chris Kinn told WTVG-TV.
The patrol’s Facebook page identifies the trooper as Andrew Clouser, 29, and says he is in serious but stable condition at Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center in Toledo. He had been with the highway patrol since 2012.
Another series of pileups about 10 miles to the east shut down the turnpike’s westbound lanes near Sandusky.
The patrol says emergency workers are having a difficult time responding because of the conditions and backups that stretched over seven miles.