2 truckers injured in crash on Ohio Turnpike

1/18/2011

Two truckers were injured Tuesday when a tractor-trailer slammed into their parked rigs at the Oak Openings Service Plaza on the Ohio Turnpike, troopers with the Swanton post of the Ohio Highway Patrol said.

Eligiusz Zdeb, 43, of Glendale, N.Y., and Stamen Doychev, 32, of Schaumburg, Ill., were taken to St. Luke's Hospital, Maumee, with nonlife-threatening injuries, troopers said. Mr. Zdeb, who had to be extricated through the windshield of his rig, later was transferred to the University of Toledo Medical Center, the former Medical College of Ohio Hospital.

Jeffrey Johnson, 54, of Slinger, Wis., was traveling west in his rig shortly before 4:30 p.m. and failed to make a turn when he entered the plaza. His rig jumped the curb, ran over trees, and smashed into the two parked rigs, troopers said.

Mr. Johnson, who was not injured, was cited for failure to control. Emergency crews from Lucas and Fulton counties responded.