Another I-80 crash seriously injures 2 tonight

LIBERTY

Two people were seriously injured in a single-vehicle accident on Interstate 80 in Liberty Township Tuesday evening, just over a mile from the site of a crash that killed three people Monday.

Tuesday’s accident involved a pickup truck towing a camping trailer which was driving eastbound between the Hubbard and Belmont Avenue exits.

The driver, a male, lost control of the pickup and the trailer was separated from it, said Ohio State Highway Patrol Sgt. Bret Henderson. The pickup rolled into the ditch between the highway and Monticello Apartments in Liberty.

A female passenger was airlifted to St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown with “very serious injuries,” Henderson said. The driver was later driven to St. Elizabeth’s with serious injuries, he said. Henderson said their identities were not yet known.

The accident occurred around 5:30 p.m., Henderson said. Traffic on I-80 was stopped between Belmont Avenue and the accident site, so the medical evacuation helicopter and other emergency vehicles could arrive at the crash site. All lanes were reopened by 7 p.m.

It is not clear what caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle, Henderson said. The Ohio Highway Patrol plans to question him when possible, he said.