2 killed, 2 injured in 2-vehicle crash

A collision on Sylvania and Matlack avenues yesterday left two dead in one car and injured two occupants of a second car.

Two occupants of a car that either went out of control or made an ill-advised left turn at a West Toledo intersection were killed yesterday when an oncoming car collided with theirs, authorities said.

The names of the 52-year-old male driver and his 61-year-old female passenger, who died in the 2:20 p.m. crash at West Sylvania and Matlack avenues, were being withheld last night until relatives were told, police said.

The two were in a teal Saturn heading west on West Sylvania and collided with an eastbound red Ford Fusion driven by a 66-year-old woman.

The woman and a passenger in her car, also both unidentified, were taken to Toledo Hospital with what police said were not life-threatening injuries.

Among questions facing investigators was whether the Saturn s driver lost control or was trying to turn left onto Matlack.

Raymond Cervantes, who lives at Brame Place and Matlack, a block from the accident, said he heard a loud crash. Initially, he thought someone was trying to break into his house.

But when he went outside, he and several of his neighbors saw two badly damaged cars in the nearby intersection.

Mr. Cervantes, 33, ran to the wreckage hoping to help, but a witness told him the two people in the Saturn already were dead. The people in the Ford were coherent and talking, he said. It s just sad, he said afterward, standing on his porch with the mangled cars in view. They didn t wake up this morning thinking this was going to happen.

Sylvania remained closed for hours between Jackman Road and Upton Avenue while traffic investigators documented the scene.

The cars, each with their hoods pushed upward as a result of the collision, sat in front of Matlack. Several people, including a group of children, watched from nearby sidewalks.