COLUMBUS – A Columbus man was killed when his pickup crashed while he was driving along some abandoned railroad track in southwestern Union County Thursday night, according to Sheriff Jamie Patton.
Jason Morris, 43, was killed and the 41-year-old woman who was a passenger in the truck was hospitalized when Morris’s Ford Ranger went off the left side of the railroad bed and struck a tree off Woodstock Road near Lincoln Road in Union Township, Patton’s office reported.
Alcohol is suspected to be a factor in the crash, Patton said.
Morris was believed to be driving northbound on the old railroad bed at a high rate of speed when the truck went off the railroad bed and struck the tree approximately 75 yards off of Woodstock Road and flipped over, Patton said.
Patton’s office received a 911 call at 8:18 p.m. reporting the accident.
Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers, the Union Township Fire Department, and the Marysville Fire Department responded to the scene and found Morris’s pickup upside down against the tree, Patton said.
Dalen Mullet, of Columbus, who riding in the truck, was taken to Memorial Hospital and transferred to the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center where Patton says she was listed in stable condition.
Morris was pronounced dead at the scene by the Union County coroner and was transported to the Montgomery County morgue where an autopsy was scheduled to be performed Friday.
The crash remains under investigation by Patton’s office, the Highway Patrol, and the Union County Coroner’s Office.