Dec 31, 2007 7:50 am US/Eastern
Ohio Collision Kills 5, Including 4 Children
Pickup Truck Going Wrong Way Hit Minivan Head-On
6-Month-Old Infant Among Dead
TOLEDO, Ohio (CBS) ―
Five people in a minivan with Maryland license plates were killed late Sunday in a head-on crash with a pickup truck going the wrong way on an interstate near Toledo, Ohio, a fire department spokesman said.
The dead included an infant approximately 6 months old, Assistant Fire Chief Luis Santiago said. The others, including a woman and three children, were all pronounced dead at the scene, he said Monday.
"It was among the worst I've seen," Santiago said of the crash scene. Bits of gift wrap and toys were strewn about the highway, suggesting the minivan was carrying members of a family heading home from visiting relatives for the holidays, he added.
A man and two other children from the minivan were taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, Santiago said. The driver of the pickup also was taken to a hospital, but his injuries did not appear as serious.
Around 11:00 p.m., officers received a call from employees at a Taco Bell that a man was driving drunk and stopped to get food. By the time police arrived, he had left the restaurant in a Ford F-350 and got on Interstate 280 driving the wrong way in the southbound lane. Moments later, police say the truck crashed into a Chevy Astro van carrying eight people near the Manhattan overpass, reports CBS News affiliate WTOL-TV.
The two vehicles struck nearly head-on. Both vehicles tried to swerve out of the way of the other. The heavier Ford truck sheared off the passenger-side doors of the van. Several passengers on the passenger side were ejected from the van.
The driver of the pickup truck, Michael Gagnon, 24, from Adrian, Michigan is hospitalized at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center. Officers are waiting for the results of a blood alcohol test. He will be arrested upon discharge from the hospital on a charge of aggravated vehicular homicide, reports WTOL-TV.
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