The State Highway Patrol is looking for a commercial flatbed truck that crashed into the back of a 2010 Chevy Equinox at U.S. 23 and State Route 229 early Thursday morning.
Tilly White, whom state troopers described as a paramedic on his way to work, had stopped and was assisting a driver in a vehicle that had been involved in a traffic accident there when White’s car was then hit by a commercial flatbed truck.
The highway patrol was dispatched at 6:24 a.m. Both lanes on SR 229 were closed for about 10 minutes and the scene was cleared by 7:06 a.m., according to the highway patrol.
The first accident occurred when Chase Reed, who was driving a 1997 Mercury Grand Marquis, was making a right turn to go north on U.S. 23. He lost control of his vehicle and hit a 2007 Honda Civic driven by Matthew Crill, 42, of Westerville.
Reed, 22, was transported to Grant Medical Center after suffering minor injuries, troopers said.
Reed’s Grand Marquis was partially in the left lane on U.S. 23. White pulled up in his Equinox and stopped. White, 41, wasn’t in the vehicle when it was hit by the flatbed truck.
White walked up on the Marquis and was assisting Reed when the flatbed truck hit the back of his car and pushed it into the Marquis.
Reed was in the process of getting out of his vehicle when the flatbed truck knocked the Equinox into his Grand Marquis and sandwiched him between the door and the car, troopers said.
The commercial truck kept going and never stopped.
Reed is at fault for the first collision after losing control of his vehicle and the commercial truck is at fault for the second crash, troopers said.
Crill was not injured in the crash.