Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Latest local news, weather and high school sports for Toledo area

Wrong way driver narrowly misses another motorist before fatal crash
Posted: 03.12.2012 at 7:25 PM
Angi Gonzalez

Angi is the evening anchor for WNWO at 6 and 11.

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Ronnell Richards and Khary Phenix were both killed in the I-75 crash  / Joe Galli
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For the second time, this month, there's been a deadly accident involving a wrong way driver along I-75 in Northwest Ohio.

In both cases there were also witnesses, to the crash, that narrowly missed becoming victims themselves.

In the most recent case, Ronnell Richards and Khary Phenix were killed when their vehicle collided with a rented box truck.

"At 3:05 in the morning we received a call from a truck driver that said that the accident just occurred," Toledo Police Spokesman Joe Heffernan said.

Later Monday morning, both Richards and Phenix of Monroe were pronounced dead at St. Vincent's Hospital.

The driver of the box truck, 27-year-old Kevina Thomas of Toledo, was also taken to St. V's for treatment but she did not suffer any life-threatening injuries. 

Authorities say the two men, both 37, were going Northbound in the southbound lanes of I-75 near Bancroft Street when the crash happened.

Officials have not been able to determine where the men got onto the interstate or where they were headed.

Around 20 miles away, and just a little over a week ago, 3 Bowling Green State University students and another woman were killed in a similar crash.

An investigation, into that incident, has determined the students were going to Detroit Metro Airport and the wrong way driver had just left work at the Jeep's Toledo North Assembly Plant.

Unlike the crash on March 2nd, however, Toledo Police say they did not receive a call reporting the wrong way driver until it was too late.

"We didn’t even get a call till the accident happened. The witness that did call was nearly struck. As he was calling 911,the accident occurred," Heffernan said.

If you come across a wrong way driver, authorities say picking up the phone shouldn't be your first course of action.

They advise getting off the road as soon as possible, and once you are out of harm’s way then call the authorities.

Why do you think there are so many wrong-way accidents recently? Sound off below and on our Facebook fanpage.

 

 

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