Man killed on state Route 5 in Bazetta Township Friday identified

Staff report

SOUTHINGTON

The Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Southington Post has identified the man who was struck by a tractor-trailer and died early Friday on the state Route 5/82 bypass just west of the Perkins Jones exit in Bazetta Township as Joshua L. Holmes, 39, of Farmdale.

The patrol also identified the driver of the tractor trailer as Kurt Yoder, 40, of Millersburg. No charges have been filed.

Other information on the crash was not available Monday morning, but officials said they expect to release additional information as the investigation progresses.

Holmes was crossing the highway from south to north when he was struck in the right of two eastbound lanes, the highway patrol said in an earlier news release.

A 911 call was made at 6:22 a.m. Friday reporting the accident. A nurse on her way to work said she and an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper saw the man on the roadway and stopped their vehicles.

Another report says a deputy with the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office first spotted Holmes’ body on the highway and that a state trooper was also close by. Both officers turned their vehicles around and went back to the scene.

The nurse held Holmes’ hand and prayed for him, but Holmes died within a few minutes of her arrival, she told The Vindicator. The highway patrolman blocked traffic from getting too close to the accident, she said.