COLUMBUS – A Northeast Side woman lay undiscovered for over an hour after she was killed early Thursday in a single-vehicle accident that shut down a major interstate for much of the day, including the morning rush hour.
UPDATE 10/4/19 6:54 a.m.: This story has been update to include the name of the victim
Police say Aareonna Harris, 23, was killed at approximately 2:30 a.m. when her vehicle drove off the right side of the northbound lanes of I-71 south of Morse Road and struck two utility poles in a grassy area about 78 feet from the roadway, Sgt. Brooke Wilson of the Accident Investigation Unit said.
The crash scene was not discovered until utility crews investigating a power outage found the vehicle at 3:50 a.m., Wilson said.
The northbound lanes of the interstate were closed during the investigation of the accident and the cleanup. Entrance ramps were also closed from I-670 in both directions, E. 5th Avenue, E. 11th Avenue, E. 17th Avenue, E. Hudson Street, Weber Road, E. North Broadway and Cooke Road.
The Ohio Department of Transportation closed the southbound lanes from I-270 to Cooke Road just before 10:30 a.m. until early afternoon to repair utility poles and power lines that had been knocked down during the crash, according to ODOT and the Columbus Division of Police.