Sharon, Pa., man dies in I-80 overpass crash in Liberty

SUV hit tractor-trailer, landed on road below

LIBERTY -- A Sharon, Pa., man was killed Friday afternoon when a vehicle he was driving collided with a tractor-trailer on Interstate 80 westbound near the Sampson Road overpass.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol Warren Post in Southington said the crash happened around 2:45 p.m. A news release from the patrol states Bruce Markell, 71, of Sharon, was driving west on Interstate 80 in the left lane in a 2005 Chevrolet Equinox while Regina Skinner, 50, of Canton, was driving west in the right lane in a 2016 Mack truck and tanker trailer.

Reports state Markell made an improper lane change and struck the truck on the left side. Markell's vehicle then drove off the left side of the road, overturned and then went over the concrete bridge wall, coming to rest on Sampson Road, the patrol report states. The vehicle landed on its roof.

The patrol said Markell was pronounced dead on the scene. Skinner was not injured in the crash.

Liberty fire Chief Doug Theobald said, "Obviously, there was a clear amount of energy that you would not normally see in a motor vehicle accident here that was enough to elevate the car over the barrier wall and then off the roadway down to the lower roadway."

Theobald said, "We're not traffic investigators, but obviously the interstate travel speed certainly played a role … and the collision between a commercial vehicle and a passenger vehicle was enough to get a large amount of energy into the vehicle which would get it airborne and off the roadway."

Theobald said he has responded to accidents where vehicles are off the road, but he has not been involved with one that has gone airborne off a bridge and then onto the road below.

Troopers from the Ohio State Highway Patrol at the scene said witnesses told them the SUV made a lane change in front of the tanker truck. Witnesses told troopers they believe the vehicle rolled and then it came over the bridge and landed on Sampson.

The county coroner was called to the accident scene.

Liberty fire and police departments and the Ohio Department of Transportation assisted at the scene. Crews from Hubbard and Vienna fire departments also assisted.

The left lane of I-80 westbound was closed while the crash was being investigated but later reopened. Sampson also reopened by 6 p.m.