Sandusky-area lottery winner hit, killed leaving bar

SANDUSKY - A 47-year-old woman who had been at a bar celebrating her recent $8,000 lottery win was killed walking home when she was struck by a car.

Deborah McDonald of Crystal Rock, Ohio, had just left the Bayside Tavern near Sandusky when she was hit Tuesday night while walking along U.S. 6 at State Rt. 269 in western Erie County's Margaretta Township, according to the Ohio Highway Patrol.

She was pronounced dead at the scene.

An Ohio Lottery spokesman said Mrs. McDonald had won the money in the lottery's TV game show, Cash Explosion Double Play.

The show was taped Jan. 12 and as of yesterday was scheduled to air at 7 p.m. Saturday, an official said.

Tavern patrons told authorities that Mrs. McDonald was with a group including her husband, Robert McDonald, and was celebrating her winnings and playing pool.

Mrs. McDonald got into an argument with her husband during the evening, and was attempting to walk the several miles home from the bar rather than join him and the others in a van, said Trooper Kent Jeffries. The fight was not believed to be over the lottery winnings.

She was struck at about

9:45 p.m. by a westbound car driven by Eleanor Stults, 48, of Fremont.

Mrs. McDonald, who had been walking in the roadway and wearing dark clothes, was thrown by the impact into a traffic sign on the right side of the road, troopers said.

The driver "didn't even know she hit a person until she saw a tennis shoe in the air," Trooper Jeffries said, adding that there was no road shoulder on that section of highway where Mrs. McDonald was hit.

Troopers said they believe alcohol was a factor, as Mrs. McDonald was seen drinking at the bar.

Authorities do not suspect that the driver was drinking and do not anticipate any criminal charges against her.

Mr. Jeffries said that Mrs. McDonald's husband was on his way to pick her up in his vehicle when the incident occurred.