Posted on 12/31/2007 7:46:53 AM PST by RDTF
Five members of a Maryland family died late yesterday when their minivan was hit head-on by a pickup truck going the wrong way on a Toledo, Ohio-area interstate, according to the Toledo Blade.
Bethany Griffin, 36, and Jordan Griffin, 10, of Parkville, Md., to the northeast of Baltimore, were pronounced dead at the scene, along with Lacie Burkman, 7, and Haley Burkman, 10, police sources told the Blade. Lacie and Haley Burkman are from Redford, Mich., according to the Associated Press.
Six-month-old Vadi Griffin was pronounced dead after being taken to St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center.
Danny Griffin, 36, of Parkville, driver of the minivan, was in serious condition at St. Vincent this morning, the Blade reported. Sidney Griffin, 8, of Parkville, was in critical condition, hospital sources told the Blade; Beu Burkman, 8, address unknown, was in serious condition.
-snip-
Police told the Blade that Michael Gagnon, 24, of Adrian, Mich., the driver of the pickup, was injured and taken to St. Vincent, but the hospital did not provide the newspaper with information on a person bearing that name.
The Blade says Gagnon had been drinking at a bar; employees at a Taco Bell he visited after leaving the bar reportedly notified police of an intoxicated driver. The crash, the Blade reports, took place around 10:55 p.m.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
from article:
Toys and gift wrap were seen strewn about the highway, Santiago said, indicating that the family may have been heading home from holiday visits.
How awful.
Prayers for this family are indeed needed.
Heartbreaking. Praying for those they left behind.
susie
Prayers up indeed. I drive on 280 in Toledo all the time. Very scary.
this guy was so drunk that the taco bell employees called it into the police
Prayers....
He tested THREE TIMES the legal limit of alcohol!
I’m including my prayers here. Most of the time when I visit Michigan I use I-280 to bypass Toledo. I can’t imagine the anguish the family and relatives are feeling.
I can even picture in my head which Taco Bell he likely left from, based on the direction he was going. This has to be one of the worst two-car accidents in Toledo history.
God have mercy! May they RIP.
Can’t blame the resturaunt, but some bottom feeding lawyer will try to go for the deep pockets.
When I first got a cell phone years back, I could call in drunk drivers and get a response quickly, even saw a few pulled over right away by a local officer. In the past two years the responses are non existent, every officer, not matter what time a day is “tied” up.I have followed cars through cities only to see a police car sit idly by the side of the road, or pull up at an adjoining intersection, and then go the other way,...slowly.
is it close enough for the taco bell employees to hear the crash? maybe they heard the sirens and had the gut feeling it was him
Probably not that close.
You’re right - can’t blame the restaurant but somewhere in Oregon, Ohio there is a bar owner shaking in his boots right now. I’m surprised this guy made it back across the (Maumee) river in his condition.
Prayers up for this family, and the ones left behind grieving.
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Does anyone know if the drunk driver/murderer can be charged with murder in Ohio? In CA they can be...some street racers that just killed some innocent people here locally have been charged with murder. Can’t punish these morons harshly enough.
Prayers and sympathy for their family.
Was that truck American or one of those foregn trucks we’re forced to let in here?
How terrible. Prayers up for those who remain. So sad.
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