Trish Bennett, Editor
PICKAWAY TOWNSHIP – A driver who reportedly fell asleep at the wheel is being cited for causing a four-car pile-up on U.S. Route 23 Wednesday evening.
Eric Huffman, 27, of Chillicothe, was cited for falling asleep and stopping in the middle of the roadway while traveling northbound on U.S. Route 23 about 5:36 p.m., according to Deputy Samantha Fearnow, Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office.
Huffman’s 2001 Saturn came to a stop in the middle of the northbound lanes in the area of Route 361 near the Ross County line, Fearnow said.
A second vehicle, a 2012 Nissan pickup truck owned by O’Reilly Auto Parts and driven by Christopher Hill, 25, of Columbus, approached Huffman’s vehicle but managed to stop without striking it, she said.
A third vehicle, a Mazda 5 driven by Nicholas Blosser, 50, of Tennessee, also came to a stop in the blocked roadway, followed by a fourth vehicle, a Honda Accord driven by Mark Workman, 59, of Chillicothe.
The driver of a fifth vehicle, a Nissan Rogue driven by Julie Goodson, 45, of West Virginia, was unable to stop in time, however, and struck the rear of Workman’s vehicle, Fearnow said.
In a chain reaction, Workman’s vehicle was pushed into Blosser’s vehicle, which was pushed into Hill’s vehicle. Huffman’s vehicle at the front of the line was the only one that remained untouched in the crash.
Workman and his 82-year-old mother, Mildred Workman, were transported to Berger Hospital by Pickaway Township EMS, Fearnow said. Workman was treated and released, but his mother was transferred to the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center for additional treatment.
The northbound lanes of Route 23 were closed until the wreckage could be cleared, which took about two hours.
This article originally appeared on The Pickaway News Journal
