Ohio trooper injured in fiery crash with wrong-way driver

The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio State Highway Patrol officer and a motorist traveling the wrong way were injured early Thursday in a fiery head-on collision on Interstate 71 in Morrow County.

The collision occurred around 2:40 a.m. in the northbound lanes of I-71 approximately four miles north of the Rt. 95 exit, according to the patrol’s Mount Gilead Post.

The trooper had been dispatched to locate a possibly impaired driver on I-71 when his cruiser was struck head-on by a vehicle traveling southbound in the northbound lanes, the patrol said. Both vehicles then caught on fire.

Another motorist stopped at the scene to help, and that Good Samaritan was also injured, troopers said.

The trooper and the Good Samaritan were flown by helicopter to hospitals in Columbus, while the wrong-way driver was transported to a hospital in Mansfield, the patrol said.

Northbound lanes of I-71 were closed for approximately 2 1/2 hours after the crash.

The names of the trooper and the other two injured persons were not released early Thursday.

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