Monday, May 24, 2010
HUBBARD — Three people were killed Monday in a three-vehicle accident on Interstate 80 eastbound in Hubbard Township.
The accident involved two tractor-trailers and a sport-utility vehicle as traffic was slowing down for roadwork. The crash site is across the median from the truck scales between the Hubbard and Belmont Avenue exits.
Shirley Gilmore, 66, of Warren, and her two passengers, David Westenfelder, 56, and Wendy Frost, no age available, both of Surprise, Ariz., were pronounced dead at the scene.
Gilmore was stopped in traffic in the right lane of eastbound Interstate 80 behind a FedEx semi-tractor/double trailer driven by Brian Pepson, 35, of Jermyn, Pa.
Both vehicles were stopped in an area of road construction.
A semi-tractor/trailer, driven by Eugene R. White, 62, of Shiloh, Ohio, failed to stop, striking Gilmore's vehicle in the rear at 1:50 p.m. Monday, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol¹s Warren Post.
White sustained minor injuries and refused treatment. Pepson wasn¹t injured.
The crash remains under investigation, and charges are pending, the patrol said.
Traffic on I-80 was stopped between the accident site and Belmont Avenue, a distance of about 3 miles. The Ohio Department of Transportation was diverting traffic after that point.
The Trumbull County coroner examined the bodies in a tent set up along the highway.
One lane on I-80 eastbound reopened at about 8 p.m. between state Route 193 and U.S. Route 62, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation.