Initial reports
Crews responded to reports of a crash from 911 calls “about a wrong way driver heading west on I-70 east, which collided with several other vehicles” around 1:12 a.m. on I-70 eastbound near Brandt Pike, according to the Huber Heights Police Division.
Police said at the scene officers found two vehicles fully on fire, and a third vehicle crashed near the median.
A fourth vehicle involved was later found approximately a mile east near the Brandt Pike exit, according to police. Police added fire crews also extinguished the flames at the scene.
“Due to the severity of the crash, I-70 east was shut down at I-75 to divert all traffic away from the scene with the assistance of ODOT (Ohio Department of Transportation) and the Ohio State Highway Patrol,” police said.
More details
According to a release from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office sent on Monday, preliminary investigation found that a 55-year-old man drove a 2016 Chevrolet Tahoe up the exit ramp at Ohio 201, driving west into the oncoming eastbound traffic.
The Tahoe first crashed into a 2019 Honda Accord that was preparing to take the exit, the release said. The Honda driver, a 25-year-old man, tried to avoid the truck by changing lanes but the Tahoe also changed and crashed into the car. The Accord spun out of control and hit the concrete barrier.
The pickup then continued driving the wrong way down I-70 for about half a mile before crashing head-on into a 2020 Chevrolet Trax and a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu, both driving in the left lane. It then came to rest near the concrete barrier dividing the east- and westbound lanes of I-70.
According to the release, the driver of the pickup truck and both the driver and a passenger from the Trax were pronounced dead at the scene.
Medics took the driver of the Malibu to Miami Valley Hospital with serious injuries.
The driver and a passenger in the Honda suffered minor injuries and were released from the scene.
The crash remains under investigation.
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