COLUMBUS – A California woman was one of two people killed in fatal traffic crashes over the weekend in Columbus.
Xitalic Rivera, of Chino, Calif., was killed and three other people injured when the vehicle they were in left the roadway on I-270 on the Northeast Side and hit two trees late Friday night, Lt. Aaron Vollmer, a spokesman for the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Rivera, 21, was a front seat passenger in a Chevrolet Trailblazer driven by Italia Jefferson, from West Bloomfield, Mich., which was traveling northwest on I-270 near the SR 3 exit at 11:22 p.m. when the SUV traveled off the right side of the roadway and struck the trees. She was pronounced dead at the scene, Vollmer said.
Jefferson, 20, was listed in critical condition at Riverside Methodist Hospital in critical condition.
Two juvenile passengers who were in the rear seat were taken to Riverside and OhioHealth Grant Medical Center in serious condition.
The crash remains under investigation but the Patrol spokesman says speed and alcohol appear to be factors in the crash.
Police have not yet released the name of a woman who was killed when she was struck by a car in an intersection on the Hilltop early Sunday, according to detective with the Columbus police Accident Investigation Unit.
The woman was walking on S. Wilson Road near the Fremont Street intersection at approximately 4:33 a.m. when police say she stepped into the roadway and into the path a 2018 Dodge Challenger, driven by John Roberts, 58, of Columbus, which was driving northbound on Wilson Road, approaching the same intersection.
The woman was struck by the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene by Columbus paramedics.
The investigation is ongoing.
A Johnstown man died when the car he was driving went off the road on U.S. 62 near Cooper Road in Licking County just after 10:00 p.m. Sunday, Vollmer said.
Justin Smallwood, 26, was eastbound on U.S. 62 when he lost control of his 2006 Acura TSX and drove off the north side of the roadway, rolling multiple times, Vollmer said.
Smallwood was ejected from the vehicle and died later at Mount Carmel East Hospital.
Vollmer says Smallwood was not wearing a seat belt.
The accident is still under investigation.