Toledo woman dies after driving into oncoming traffic

10/26/2013

A Toledo woman died Saturday after she drove into oncoming traffic on South Detroit Avenue near Arlington Avenue, narrowly avoiding vehicles before striking a limousine bus head on, Officer Jeff Dorner said.

Ethel Pryor, 66, of Prospect Avenue, was southbound on South Detroit and, after crossing Arlington about 5:55 p.m., went left of center and into the northbound lanes. Two vehicles collided to avoid her. In the northbound curb lane, one vehicle swerved left, but she then struck the limousine bus, which had dropped off its passengers just minutes earlier, said Officer Dorner, a senior accident reconstructionist.

There were no skid marks or other indication that she tried to stop, and she may have suffered a medical emergency, Officer Dorner said. She'd been driving the wrong way no more than 600 feet before the collision.

She was taken to the University of Toledo Medical Center, the former Medical College Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 6:36 p.m. She was not wearing a seat belt, although her air bag deployed.

The driver of the limousine bus, Charles Boutan, 49, of Lambert Drive refused medical treatment.