Accident in Tarkington

LIBERTY, August 26, 2010 - Shortly after 7:00 this morning, Tarkington firefighters and City of Cleveland EMS were dispatched to a report of a motor vehicle accident with entrapment on SH105 near the intersection of SH321. Tarkington Assistant Chief Dalton Lee Gregory arrived on location to find both Liberty Assistant Chief Brian Hurst and CoCEMS paramedic Michael Bortz starting to assist with patient care. Both had driven upon the accident shortly after it occurred.

The accident involved three vehicles, including a semi-truck, a green Dodge Stratus, and a white Chevrolet Impala.

The driver and front-seat passenger of the Stratus, as well as the driver of the Impala were severely injured, requiring transport by helicopter and a landing zone was established nearby.

Firefighters on Tarkington Engine 51 had to remove the driver’s door with the vehicle extrication tools in order to get the driver of the Stratus out of the vehicle. As she was about to be transferred from the ambulance to the helicopter, she went into cardiac arrest and had to be transported by ground ambulance to Cleveland Regional Medical Center, where she was later pronounced dead.

Both the passenger of the Stratus and the driver of the Impala were flown by PHI medical helicopters to Houston-area trauma centers. A third passenger in the Stratus, a young child in a car seat, was transported by CoCEMS ambulance to Cleveland Regional Medical Center with what were described as relatively minor injuries. The driver of the semi was uninjured.

Preliminary investigation indicates that the Stratus was travelling east on CR2242 and apparently failed to stop at SH105, crossing into the path of the west-bound semi. The impact with the semi knocked the Stratus into the path of the east-bound Impala. Initial on-scene accounts report that neither front-seat passenger of the Stratus was wearing a seat-belt. Identities of all involved are being withheld pending notification of the families.

This is the latest in a long string of accidents involving CR2242, which runs between SH105 and SH321. Many drivers use this road as a shortcut to avoid the light at the intersection of SH321 and SH105. According to Assistant Chief Gregory, Tarkington VFD has ran many accidents at both intersections.

“We see a lot on the 321 side, mainly rear-end collisions where someone stops to turn onto 2242 and gets hit, but we also see quite a few on 105.”

Gregory went on to say that, in his opinion, it wasn’t worth the risk in order to save what amounts to a few seconds.

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