Trending
HUBBARD -- Investigators with the Ohio Highway Patrol say stalled traffic on I-80 following a four-vehicle crash around 7:45 a.m. Monday, near Liberty, east of state Route 193, may have played a role in a fatal accident about 45 minutes later on the same stretch of highway in Hubbard Township.
At 8:33 a.m, as the road was being cleared from the initial accident, a 2019 Kenworth tractor-trailer truck, driven by Katherina V. Stewart, 53, of Asheboro, N.C., and traveling west on I-80, stopped because of the delay from the earlier accident.
It was then when a 2009 Cadillac SRX, also traveling west, hit the rear of the stopped truck. The driver of the SRX, identified as Jessica Iglesias, 36, of Hubbard, died at the scene, according to Tribune Chronicle news partner WKBN27.
"The Cadillac SRX went right into the rear of the trailer," said Lt. Brian Vail of the highway patrol, adding it appears "the subject of that vehicle didn't see that the corridor was stopped."
Traffic was diverted through the weigh station in Hubbard until 11 a.m. while the fatality was investigated.
Neither Stewart, nor her passenger, Benjamin S. Bargeron, 60, also of Asheboro, N.C., were injured. Vail said he does not expect Stewart to be charged.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol Commercial Enforcement section is assisting in the accident's investigation.
It's the fourth traffic death in Trumbull County in 2019, Vail told WKBN27, adding the figure is three more than this time last year.
The early-morning multi-vehicle crash in Liberty involved Florence F. Zduniak, 70, of Warren, who was traveling east in a 2007 Ford Freestyle. She reportedly lost control of her car, went off the left side of I-80, crossed the median, overturned and struck a pair of vehicles, both traveling west -- a 2017 Ford 350 U-Haul driven by Giancaro Maiorino, 75, of Davenport, Iowa, and a 2014 Cadillac CTS driven by David C. Oakes, 54, of Hubbard. Also involved in the crash was a third west-traveling vehicle -- a 2017 Jeep Renegade driven by Rebecca A. Sakonyi, 40, of Hubbard, which was struck by debris.
Zduniak was taken to St. Elizabeth Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. None of the other drivers involved sustained injuries that required hospitalization.
Zduniak was charged with failure to maintain reasonable control of her vehicle.
Liberty Township EMS and firefighters assisted at the four-vehicle accident, while the Hubbard Township police, fire and EMS assisted at the fatal, as did LifeFleet EMS.