COLUMBUS – The Ohio State Highway Patrol is investigating an early-morning crash involving patrol cruiser and a semi that sent a trooper to the hospital and closed down a key downtown exit ramp during the morning rush hour Wednesday.
Trooper Jarid Fitzpatrick, assigned to the Patrol’s Columbus Post, traveling westbound on I-70 in a marked cruiser at 3:13 a.m. when the cruiser struck the rear of a 2020 Freightliner tractor trailer, driven by Thomas Ervin, of Heath, near the exit ramp to northbound I-71, Lt. Nathan Dennis of the Highway Patrol said.
Fitzpatrick sustained serious injuries and was transported to Grant Medical Center.
Ervin, 58, was not injured, Dennis said
The exit ramp was closed for several hours during the investigation and cleanup.