CLEVELAND STREET PILE UP

SENDS SIX TO AREA HOSPITALS

PHOTO PAGE

Elyria – The crash that sent six people to area hospitals and left one truck lying on its side, appears to have been caused by a driver running a red light.

Lieutenant Kevin Szabo of the Elyria Fire Department said that when Firefighters arrived they saw the truck on its side and a heavily damaged Honda in the middle of the intersection. “We came from Station 4 on Abbe so we approached the scene from 57 southbound. I had a pretty good vantage point from where we parked on 57 at Cleveland Street to see the entire crash site. Right in front of us we found a heavily damaged Accord in the center of the intersection and a Silverado, that was still running, lying on its side in front of the Barber Shop.”

Lieutenant Szabo said that Firefighters had to start triaging victims while also stretching a hose line and taking care of the pick up truck – that for some reason was still running. “One of the problems we had was that the crash covered such a large area. We had to go car to car checking on victims and assessing their injuries while waiting for the ambulances to show up. Then because that truck was still running one of our guys took an ax and broke out the windshield so he could get inside and shut the ignition off.”

The crash, involving a total of six vehicles, occurred just before 6 P.M. Wednesday night in the intersection of Route 57 and Cleveland Street. One witness, Audrey Dotson of Elyria, said that she was four cars behind the crash on Cleveland Street when the crash occurred. “We were heading to our accountants office in North Ridgeville at the time and I didn’t actually see the truck roll over but I saw as the guys from inside started climbing out. It was weird because there were three of them, one right after another climbing out.” Dotson said that she saw people getting out of their cars to go help the victims, many getting on their cell phones to call for help while others tried to see if they could help the victims. “The girl that was in the car in the middle of the intersection got out of her car and was talking on her cell phone and I saw someone go over to her and you could tell that they were advising her to get back in her car to sit down and to stop moving around.”

According to witnesses here is how the crash occurred.
A Honda Accord was traveling south on Route 57 approaching Cleveland Street. A Silverado and a Grand Prix were traveling, side-by-side, and eastbound on Cleveland Street approaching Route 57. As the Silverado and Grand Prix entered the intersection, with a green traffic light, the Honda Accord ran her red traffic light and struck the Silverado causing it to tip over. While tipping over dry wall materials, equipment and the hard shell bed cover were thrown from the truck bed onto the front of the Grand Prix.

The driver of the Grand Prix then took evasive action through the intersection and with limited to no visibility turned south into the northbound lanes of 57 striking two cars that were stopped at the light in the turning lane to go west onto Cleveland Street. The Grand Prix came to rest on 57 facing south. There was one other car involved only by having some of the dry wall materials from the truck land on their car causing slight damage.

Lieutenant Szabo said that two of the passengers from the Silverado were taken to the hospital with neck and back pains, the driver refused treatment or transport. The 17 year old driver of the Honda Accord was transported, with no visible injures, only because she is under age and is not legally allowed to sign off at the scene. The 50 year old driver of the Grand Prix also had no visible injuries but was very shaken up and decided to go to the hospital to be checked out. Both drivers of the two cars that were struck in the turning lanes on 57 went to the hospital, one complaining of back pains and the other just wanting to be evaluated.

Central Lorain County Ambulance District Paramedics provided mutual aid assistance and transported two victims to Allen Medical Center. LifeCare Paramedics transported two to Elyria Memorial and two to Avon Emergency Care Center.

The Elyria Police Department is investigating the crash.


To see more photos from the crash scene: CLICK HERE


Remember if you are driving and see an accident scene ahead, “SLOW DOWN AND MOVE OVER”. Allow Police, Fire, EMS and Tow Services to do their jobs without becoming a victim.