I-75 car-bus crash that injured 26 investigated

5/23/2013

BOWLING GREEN — Ohio Highway Patrol troopers  are looking for a vehicle that possibly triggered the chain of events that led to a bus and car collision on I-75 in which 26 people were injured.

A bus carrying 30 Toledo workers from McComb, Ohio, bakery to Toledo collided with a car at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday on I-75 south of Bowling Green, closing northbound lanes for two hours, according to troopers. Troopers said Wednesday that they were looking for a third vehicle that caused the crash by making an improper lane change.

Nineteen passengers on the bus were injured, including one rider, Marquan Williams, 18, who was airlifted to Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center, the patrol said. Another bus passenger, Allen Harkins, 22, was taken by an ambulance to St. Vincent. A hospital spokesman said she had no information about patients by those names.

All seven people in the car — including an infant, a toddler, and a 5-year-old — suffered minor injuries, according to the patrol.

Troopers said the bus, driven by Isaac Starks, 49, of Toledo, was northbound on I-75 following a car driven by Sara Lipkins, 26. The Lipkins car slowed for traffic ahead and was struck by the bus.

Injured in the Lipkins car were the driver; passengers Banita Johnson, 40; Daronita Donelson, 13; Zecarri Chea, 7 months; Damarion Huggins, 2; Darnell Welch, 23, and Diamond Lipkins-Welch, 5, who was sitting on Mr. Welch’s lap in the back seat of the car, the patrol’s report states.

Everyone in the Lipkins auto is from Toledo, troopers said. They were taken to Blanchard Valley Hospital in Findlay and to Wood County Hospital in Bowling Green. Their conditions were not released by the hospitals.

- Mike Sigov