SALT CREEK TOWNSHIP, Ohio — A Columbus motorcyclist was airlifted with life-threatening injuries Tuesday afternoon following a violent T-bone collision at a rural Pickaway County intersection.
According to official crash data filed by Pickaway County Sheriff’s Deputy Zachary Irwin, the two-vehicle accident occurred on June 2, 2026, at 4:37 p.m. at the intersection of State Route 56 and Kime-Holderman Road.
Severe Injuries at the Scene
Emergency crews arrived on the scene at 4:49 p.m. to find the operator of a white 2001 BMW F650GS Dakar motorcycle, identified as 37-year-old James A. Williams of Columbus, in critical condition.
Williams had been completely ejected from his motorcycle upon impact. Deputy Irwin and initial first responders on the scene noted that Williams was suffering from severe, life-threatening hemorrhaging from both arms.
“When I arrived, the driver of Unit 2 was in critical condition… heavily bleeding from his right arm and also bleeding from his left arm,” Deputy Irwin noted in his report. “I assisted a medic with applying a tourniquet to both arms at approximately 16:50 hours.”
A MedFlight helicopter was immediately dispatched to the scene. Williams, who was wearing a DOT-compliant motorcycle helmet at the time of the crash, was stabilized before being airlifted to Grant Medical Center in Columbus with suspected serious injuries.
Dementia Symptoms Complicate Initial Driver Statements
The second vehicle involved, a gray 2020 Kia Sorento, was driven by 59-year-old Cynthia J. Stone of Chillicothe. The vehicle was owned by her passenger, 78-year-old Beverly K. Pennington of Adelphi.
The initial investigation faced immediate hurdles when Pennington told responding deputies that she was the one behind the wheel. However, authorities quickly determined that Pennington suffered from dementia and was unable to accurately recall the timeline of the crash.
Subsequent interviews with Stone revealed that she had been driving the Sorento southbound on Kime-Holderman Road. Stone stated that she came to a complete stop at the stop sign at State Route 56.
After waiting for an unidentified white pickup truck to pass, Stone proceeded forward into the intersection. She failed to yield to Williams’ eastbound motorcycle, which held the legal right-of-way on SR-56. Williams’ motorcycle struck the side of the Sorento at an angle, causing disabling damage to both vehicles.
Citation Issued and Investigation Ongoing
Neither Stone nor Pennington reported visible injuries at the scene, though the Sorento’s front airbags did not deploy. Both vehicles were later towed from the intersection by Scioto Valley Towing.
State Route 56 was completely closed to traffic for nearly three hours while a reconstruction team cleared the debris and collected evidence. Deputies noted that clear video footage of the collision was successfully recovered and uploaded to evidence repositories.
Cynthia J. Stone was officially issued a citation under Ohio Revised Code 4511.43 for failure to yield the right-of-way at a through highway. Because Williams was incapacitated, police were unable to conduct a follow-up interview, and the accident remains under active investigation by the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office.
