Caseworker: 6 killed in crash were Iraqi refugees

Associated Press

UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio

A social worker says six members of a family killed in a crash with an Ohio police officer were Iraqi refugees who were driving home from holiday visits with family and friends at the time of the accident.

Majeda Mohammad works for Community Refugee and Immigration Services in Columbus. He says Eid Badi Shahad and his family had come from Basra, Iraq, to Ohio about three years ago.

Shahad, his wife and their four daughters were killed in the wreck. Mohammad said Friday that Shahad’s mother and his four sons were home at the time of the accident.

Mohammad says the family had been out making visits as part of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

A police cruiser responding to a robbery report with its lights flashing and siren blaring struck the family’s car at an intersection just northwest of Ohio’s capital.

Police said dash-camera video from the cruiser shows the victims’ Toyota Corolla had a red light when it entered the intersection and came to a complete stop just before the crash.