OHIO — Three people died Sunday morning on the Ohio Turnpike following two crashes west of Lorain County, authorities reported.
The first crash occurred shortly after 6:30 a.m. in Milan Township, Erie County, when an eastbound truck driven by 31-year-old Anthony Jenson of Indianapolis struck a tow truck stopped on the shoulder with its emergency lights on. Jenson was injured but expected to recover. His passenger, 32-year-old Dantrail Reese, also of Indianapolis, was killed. The tow truck driver, who was outside the vehicle at the time, was unharmed.
As traffic backed up from the first crash, a second accident happened nearly an hour later. A Toyota Sienna, driven by 56-year-old Hongwei Wang of Chicago, rear-ended a tractor-trailer. Wang and a passenger, 56-year-old Zhangli Liu, were killed. The tractor-trailer driver was not injured.
Eastbound lanes of the Turnpike were closed for nearly three hours while troopers investigated the crashes.
The causes of both incidents remain under investigation.
