BORDERLAND

Seneca County car crash under investigation

12/23/2013

BELLEVUE, Ohio — A traffic crash Sunday evening that killed a 16-year-old boy and seriously injured a 17-year-old boy on State Rt. 18 southwest of the city remained under investigation Monday, the Ohio Highway Patrol said.

Car driver Garrett Holmes of Bellevue was pronounced dead at the scene in Seneca County’s Thompson Township, troopers from the patrol’s Fremont post said, while passenger Dakota Schaffer, also of Bellevue, was taken to Bellevue Hospital with what were described as life-threatening injuries. Young Shaffer was transferred to University of Toledo Medical Center, the former Medical College of Ohio, where a spokesman said Monday he remained a patient.

The car was headed southwest on Route 18 near County Road 34 about 9:20 p.m. when for unknown reasons it went off the road’s left side, struck and crossed a ditch, and then hit a barn, landscaping rocks, and a tree. Both occupants wore seat belts, troopers said.

Bellevue is about 50 miles southeast of Toledo.