TWO TEENS INJURED IN CRASH

ONE FLOWN TO METRO

South Amherst – Residents living along Route 113 in South Amherst were ready for bed and relaxing when the quiet neighborhood was shaken by a terrible crashing sound.

Reno Donofrio said he was inside his home when he heard the crashing noise. “As soon as I heard it I knew it was going to be something pretty bad.” Another neighbor said he heard a “whoshing” sound go by his house, then moments later a crashing noise.

State Troopers said the 16-year-old driver of a Ford 500 was traveling westbound on Route 113 at a high rate of speed. The speed limit is 45MPH along 113 before you hit South Amherst, it then changes to 35 at the city limits near Anis Road.

Troopers say the young driver, whose name cannot be released because of his age, came around the curve near Anis Road and went left of center. When he tried to get back into his own lane he overcorrected and lost control of the car.

Yaw marks along the road indicated that the car was sliding, passenger side first, off the left side of the road – It then struck a utility pole, snapping it in half, then a tree. When the car struck the tree it rode up the tree approximately 10 feet before returning to the ground and coming to rest in the front yard of one of the oldest homes in South Amherst.

Here is where the story gets interesting.

As concerned neighbors rushed to the car to help the two teens they found them both outside of the car and bleeding. Donofrio said that one told him that he wasn’t actually inside of the car at the time of the crash. “He told me that he had been walking along the sidewalk when the car crashed and he was struck with some wood.” The teen even had a reason why his cell phone was inside of the wrecked car. “He said he threw his cell phone when the crash happened and it must have fallen into the car through the window.”

Another neighbor who rushed to help said that one of the teens he approached was actually urinating against a tree. “He asked me to call his brother and asked that I not call the Police, he got mad when I told him that I had already called 9-1-1.”

Donofrio said the one teen he was talking to even asked him to tell Police that he was his father, he told the youth that he was not going to do that.

South Amherst Firefighters and LifeCare Ambulance Paramedics treated both teens at the scene then transported both to Amherst Hospital. One of the teens was later flown to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland.

The young man driving the car told witnesses that his Mom was going to be very mad at him.

Troopers say the driver will be charged with DUI & Failure to Control.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol is investigating the crash.


To see more photos from the scene: CLICK HERE