DRIVER IDENTIFIED IN FATAL CRASH

Grafton Township – The Ohio State Highway Patrol has released the name of the driver who was killed early this morning on Route 57 in Grafton as 49-year-old Donald E. Berg of Columbia Station.

According to the Patrol, Berg was north on Route 57 in Grafton Township when he went left of center and collided head on with a semi that was in the southbound lane.

Neighbors say that they heard what sounded like braking noises and then a loud crash. When they went outside they saw the wreckage in the middle of the roadway.

The driver of the semi, 35-year-old William T. Bennett of Louisville, Ohio, was able to get out of his cab on his own. Bennett and a neighbor were able to pull Berg from the front of the pickup truck as it was on fire. They carried him to a nearby field. The fire was too intense to try to get to Berg’s passenger.

Chief Bob Richards of the Grafton Township Fire Department said that his department received the call just after midnight of a crash on 57 near Highland. “When we arrived the pickup and semi cab were fully involved in fire. The driver of the pickup had already been removed from the truck and he was DOA at the scene and then after we had extinguished the fire we found a second victim inside – also DOA.”

Richards said that Firefighters treated Bennett at the scene for minor injuries but he refused any transport to the hospital.

The State Patrol is not releasing the name of the passenger until family notification has been made.

Firefighters also found a dog lying dead next to the crash site – they were not sure last night if the dog was inside of the truck at the time of the crash or not.

Route 57 was closed down for hours as a Reconstructionist from the State Patrol investigated the scene.


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