Crash hurts teen after I-75 chase

8/14/2003

BOWLING GREEN - A 17-year-old motorist was hurt yesterday after he led law enforcement authorities on a chase on I-75 that ended when he crashed into a tractor-trailer as he tried to exit the expressway, the Ohio Highway Patrol said.

Joseph J. Johnson, of Battle Creek, Mich., was admitted to Medical College of Ohio Hospitals, Toledo. His condition was not available.

Troopers at the patrol's Walbridge post began pursuing a 1983 Buick Regal driven by young Johnson at 11:46 a.m. yesterday on I-75 two miles north of Bowling Green. It matched the description of a car whose driver hadn't paid for gasoline 15 minutes earlier near North Baltimore.

The pursuing officer ended the chase on northbound I-75 after two minutes because the driver was weaving in and out of traffic, posing harm to other motorists.

A minute later the car exited at State Rt. 582, but lost control on the exit ramp and struck a stopped truck. The accident remains under investigation.