CRASH ON CLEVELAND STREET

ONE VICTIM IN CRITICAL CONDITION

Elyria – A two-car crash in Elyria today on Cleveland Street and Route 57 sent three people to the hospital, one in critical condition.

Elyria Firefighters and LifeCare Paramedics responded and found two cars with major damage at the southwest corner of the intersection, closest to Rally’s.

Assistant Chief Ron Brlas of the Elyria Fire Department said that although none of the victims were trapped in the vehicles it still took some maneuvering to get the passenger out of the red car. “The car that had two passengers in it, the passenger side took a direct impact and that passenger sustained the most serious injuries. Because of the mechanism of injury, both victims had to be taken out on backboards. We determined to take the driver out first because she had less serious injuries then the passenger.”

Herb de la Porte, Vice President of LifeCare Ambulance said that with the crash happening virtually right outside of their main office they heard the crash. “One of our instructors in the Academy, Noel Vargo, who is also a Paramedic and a Firefighter for Elyria Township was one of the first people on scene and he was able to care for the most serious victim and that was the female who was sitting in the passenger side of the car until the ambulances and Fire trucks arrived.”

Chief Brlas said that Vargo was holding c-spine on the passenger while the driver was being extricated. The driver of the other car sustained less serious injuries but Chief Brlas said they still took full precautions with her. “Because of the major damage done to both cars we went ahead and put her on a backboard and protected her neck until we could get her to the hospital and get some x-rays done.”

LifeCare transported all three victims to Elyria Memorial Hospital. Metro LifeFlight landed two choppers a short time later, one on the roof of the hospital and the other at McKinley School (located next to EMH) to fly the two more critical patients to Cleveland MetroHealth Medical Center.

The Elyria Police Department is investigating the crash and at this time have not yet determined the cause of the crash.

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