ROSS COUNTY — A serious two-vehicle crash late Tuesday morning left two people dead and one person critically injured and required a medical helicopter transport, according to early reports.
The crash occurred around 11 a.m. near 19373 State Route 104 in the City of Chillicothe. One of the vehicles, a truck, caught fire following the collision, prompting a quick response from firefighters who worked to extinguish the blaze and rescue the occupants. The other vehicle involved was a State Trooper, who, according to witnesses at the scene, was unconscious when they arrived.
A witness who was at the scene told Sciotopost that they pulled a woman from the truck along with other bystanders due to her vehicle catching fire. The witness then said that he cut the trooper out of his seat, removing both the airbags and the seatbelt. He told Sciotopost that he used the troopers keys to access the vehicles trunk, where he grabbed a fire extinguisher to attempt to put out the fire, but by that time the fire was too large. One man had already died at the scene.
OSP confirmed that the driver of the Chevy Silverado was 45-year-old Harold Smith of Circleville, and the second occupant was 29-year-old Amber Allis of Chillicothe. Troopers reported that Smith went left of center on 104 and went head on with the Trooper.
Emergency crews took the Trooper from the wreckage with serious injuries. While a medical helicopter was initially expected to land near the crash site, extended arrival times prompted medics to transport the victim by ground ambulance to Adena Regional Medical Center. There, MedFlight crews met with emergency personnel and transferred the patient before flying them to The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus for critical care.
Authorities have not yet released the names of those involved, and the crash remains under investigation.
