3 people dead, 1 injured after weekend crashes

Car crashes occurred over weekend

By DAVID J. COEHRS

Expositor Features Editor

Two car accidents in Delta and one in Archbold over the weekend have claimed the lives of three people and injured one.

A car-train accident on a private driveway near County Road 11 and County Road F left a father and son dead early Saturday morning.

Fulton County Chief Deputy Roy Miller reported that Christopher Butler, 41, of Liberty Center was traveling north in a 2006 Ford Fusio on a quarter-mile long driveway at the home of Jason Allwood near County Road 11 and County Road F in York Township at approximately 1:56 a.m. when his vehicle was struck by a train on tracks that intersect the driveway.

Butler was killed along with his son, passenger Craig Chadwick, 22, of Delta. Miller said the vehicle failed to yield at the train tracks, which are marked with crossing signs.

He said the driveway is not a public access drive, and would be used only for farming or to visit the Allwood residence. He said the crossing signs at the tracks are not obscured.

"From what I could see during the daytime it appears to be pretty clear," Miller said.

It is not known whether alcohol was involved in the accident. The sheriff's office is awaiting the results of a toxicology report.

The crash remains under investigation.

According to the Toledo post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Cynthia Loney, 53, of Delta was northbound on State Route 109 in York Township Friday at 10 a.m. when she lost control of her 1998 Pontiac Bonneville, slid left of center and collided head-on with a southbound 2002 Pontiac Montana driven by Tina D. Baun, 50, also of Delta.

Loney was transported by air ambulance to the University of Toledo Medical Center, where she died on Saturday. Baun was not injured.

Both drivers were wearing seat belts. Alcohol was not a factor in the accident, an OHP spokesperson said.

A tractor-trailer driver on the Ohio Turnpike was injured Sunday morning when his vehicle struck a bridge pillar.

Norman M. Pontious, 52, of Defiance was westbound on the turnpike Sunday at 5:03 a.m. when his 2007 Volvo semi went off the left side of the road and into the median at milepost 27.3 in Archbold, according to the Swanton post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol. The vehicle then struck an overpass pillar.

Pontious was removed from the semi by mechanical means and life-flighted to the University of Toledo Medical Center. A spokesperson there said there is no record of anyone by that name.

He was wearing a seatbelt, and no alcohol use was suspected.

The OHP said Pontious will be cited for driving a marked lane. The accident remains under investigation.

The eastbound lanes of the turnpike were shut down for 11/2 hours following the accident.