Whitehouse man dies after his vehicle crashes

11/17/2002

A Whitehouse man died yesterday about 50 minutes after he was thrown from his Jeep Wrangler when it went off an icy Neapolis-Waterville Road, just west of Heller Road, and overturned in a ditch, the Ohio Highway Patrol said.

Christopher A. Smith, 26, was flown to Medical College of Ohio Hospitals, where he was pronounced dead at 4:51 a.m.

Mr. Smith was eastbound on Neapolis-Waterville about 4 a.m. when his SUV went off the right side off the road. He over-corrected, drove back onto the road, and then off its left side into the ditch. The SUV overturned, coming to rest on the roof, troopers at the patrol's Toledo post said.

It was snowing at the time of the accident, and the road had patches of ice. Mr. Smith was not wearing a seat belt, troopers said.