Bluffton driver killed in pickup-semi crash

12/3/2010

GILBOA, Ohio — A Bluffton, Ohio, man was killed when his pickup collided with a tractor-trailer rig in Putnam County, the Ohio Highway Patrol said.

Bradley Beilharz, 51, the driver of the pickup, was trapped in the wreckage for a short time, freed, and pronounced dead at the scene, troopers at the patrol's Lima post said. Mr. Beilharz was southbound on Putnam County Road 5 about 6:20 p.m. Thursday when he stopped at a stop sign at U.S. 224, then pulled into the intersection and into the path of a semi driven west on U.S. 224 by Dale West, 48, of Denver, Ind. Mr. West, whose semi jack-knifed in the crash, was treated in St. Rita's Medical Center in Lima.