2 upstate NY girls identified as victims in fatal Ohio crash

GLENS FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — Authorities have identified two girls from upstate New York as the victims in a fatal crash on an Ohio highway over the weekend.

The Post-Star in Glens Falls reports the medical examiner’s office in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, says 7-year-old Payton Thatcher, of Glens Falls, and 13-year-old Tiarra Couture, of Argyle, were killed in Saturday’s early-morning crash on the Ohio Turnpike.

The girls were half-sisters.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol says the girls’ 51-year-old grandmother was driving when she swerved to avoid a deer in the road and their vehicle was rear-ended by tractor-trailer.

The girls’ mother was hospitalized in serious condition. Her 9-year-old son was expected to be released from a hospital later today. The grandmother was treated and released.

The accident occurred in Strongsville, about 15 miles southwest of Cleveland.