A car accident yesterday on the Ohio Turnpike in Shalersville left one woman dead and another injured. Sandra Pittenger, age 59, of Alliance, was killed when her vehicle ran off the road when trying to avoid another vehicle on the road.
According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Pittenger was driving westbound in a 1999 Lincoln Continental when she drove off the right side of the Turnpike. This caused her vehicle to strike a ditch, a fence and a tree. The car accident occurred around 10:30 p.m. When the vehicle finally came to a stop, it caught on fire.
When Ohio State Highway Patrol Officer Sgt. Les Brode arrived at the scene, both Pittenger and her passenger, Audrey Sapp, 82, of Lisbon, were trapped inside the vehicle. The officer proceeded to grab a fire extinguisher from his squad car and attempted to put the fire out. Concurrently, he attempted to monitor the status of the two woman trapped inside the vehicle. After unsuccessfully extinguishing the fire, Brode went to the passenger door to extract the passenger from the vehicle.
The officer was able to get the passenger out of the vehicle and went back to get the driver. Finally, the driver was extracted from the vehicle and she was unresponsive. Officers administered CPR. Once emergency medical services arrived, they took over working on the driver. Pittenger was pronounced dead on the scene. Sapp was taken to Cleveland Metro Hospital via Metro Life Flight.
Ohio State Highway Patrol officials are still investigating the cause of this fatal car accident.
Source: E-Portage News “Turnpike Accident in Shalersville Leaves One Dead, One Injured” 08/12/2010