1 killed, 5 injured in 6-vehicle crash near Austintown

By ROBERT CONNELLY

rconnelly@vindy.com

CANFIELD

Ohio Turnpike Crash

Gallery

A Maryland woman died Wednesday after her car was crushed during a massive traffic crash that left five others injured on the Ohio Turnpike.

Six vehicles were involved in the 11:26 a.m. crash.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol reported that a Cardinal Joint Fire District fire truck and a turnpike employee had stopped on the side of the road for a previously disabled vehicle. The fire district vehicle, with overhead emergency lights activated, stopped in the right lane to the left rear of the turnpike vehicle.

Karen Zorn, 27, of Maryland, was driving her Nissan sports utility vehicle and stopped behind the fire truck. She was then rear-ended by a 2012 Dodge pick-up truck that was towing a car hauler with two vehicles.

The car hauler, driven by Allen Worley, 25, of Indiana, struck the fire truck, which compressed the Nissan and caused it to catch fire, killing Zorn.

Her red SUV could be seen mangled on the side of the road, burned with the front end torn off in a heap feet from the rest of the crumpled vehicle.

Worley was flown to St. Elizabeth Health Center with injuries, but was conscious.

The patrol said the impact of that crash forced the fire truck to side swipe the turnpike’s truck, injuring that driver, Michael Earnest, 52, of Ohio.

The car hauler then overturned into the left lane, striking two passenger vehicles as they were passing.

David Heath, 71, of Illinois, received non-life threatening injuries as he was driving past in his 2012 Ford Edge.

The other passerby, David William, 64, of Pennsylvania, was not injured.

Two Canfield firefighters were taken to area hospitals with non-life threatening injuries. They are 33-year old Brian Blevins, the driver of the CJFD truck, and Troy Kolar, 40, the passenger.

Both have now been released from the hospital, according to Cardinal Joint Fire District Chief Don Hutchinson.

Before Austintown firefighters responded to assist, the two Canfield firefighters attempted to put out the fire coming from the Nissan, Hutchinson said. Damage to the fire truck, however, prevented them from putting it out.

“They tried to knock it down as much as they could, but it was too much, too fast,” he said.

Hutchinson said he cannot remember the last time CJFD firefighters ended up in the hospital, and that it’s been about 20 years since one of the department’s trucks was involved in a crash.

Hutchinson said firefighters were following all protocols for responding to a crash when the fire truck was hit.

“This is one aspect of fire-fighting that people don’t hear about, how risky it is,” he said.

He did not yet have a damage estimate for the fire truck, but said it is inoperable.

Both lanes of westbound Interstate 76 were shut down for a few hours Wednesday, with officials handing out instructions at the toll booth off of Market Street in North Lima that directed westbound traffic to Western Reserve Road and Interstate 680.

Officials with the state patrol said the two lanes were shut down for about 31⁄2 hours Wednesday.

No charges have been filed as the patrol continues its investigation.