5 Dead in Head-on Collision on I-280 (Drunk Driver)

MyFoxToledo.com ^ | December 31, 2007

[ShadowDancer]

5 Dead in Head-on Collision on I-280

Police believe victims were a family from Maryland

Last Edited: Monday, 31 Dec 2007, 5:26 AM EST
Created: Monday, 31 Dec 2007, 12:33 AM EST

An alleged drunk driver in a black pick-up truck heading northbound in the southbound lanes of Interstate-280 near the I-75 interchange collided with a white minivan with eight passengers, killing five.

The five passengers killed were all females -- a mother, two 10-year-old girls, a 7-year-old girl, and a 6-month-old girl. The father, and 8-year-old girl, and an 8-year-old boy survived.

Four of the family members died at the scene of the crash, Toledo Police say. The infant died after being transported to St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center.

All of the surviving victims, including the alleged drunk driver, were also taken to St. Vincent for treatment.

Police believe the family is from Maryland because the white minivan had Maryland license plates.

The accident happened right before 11 p.m. Sunday, an hour before New Year's Eve.

The force of the impact was so severe that the pick-up truck sheared off the passenger side of the minivan, killing those on the right side of the vehicle.

"The preliminary report we have is that a pick-up truck going the wrong way on I-280 here and hit a minivan head-on," said Sgt. Jeff Pachall, Toledo Police spokesperson. "The sole occupant of the pick-up truck is injured but alive.

"There are several fatalities out of the minivan and it appears to be a family traveling from Maryland."

Police say the family appears to be non-traditional.

The accident happened between the I-75 split and the Manhattan Boulevard exit.

A witness tells FOX Toledo News that he, along with an off-duty emergency medical technician and an off-duty police officer, freed some of the victims from their seatbelts and performed CPR before emergency crews arrived.

Other people told police the appeared to be drunk. Police say the driver, who suffered minor injuries, is from Adrian, Mich.

"The witnesses say he was [drinking], but I didn't talk to him," Sgt. Pachall said. "He looks like he was but I don't have any information. He was struggling with the firemen [trying to treat him]. He was screaming as they were trying to get him out of the pick-up."

Because of his belligerent demeanor, an officer rode with the suspect in the ambulance. Another officer followed behind in a patrol car.

The Lenawee County man admitted to police that he was drunk at the time of the crash.

A search warrant was issued for the driver's blood and sent it away for testing. Results were not immediately known. He is being held at St. Vincent for observation.

The crash remains under investigation and charges are pending.

[Westlander]

5 voluntary manslaughter counts, 1 OUIL, 1 reckless driving charge, permanent license revocation, fines, court fees, lawyer fees, vehicle forfeiture, prison, and the civil lawsuits. Happy 2008 you murderous azzhole.

(we call it Operating Under the Influence of Liquor in MI)

[gridlock]

Nor does Gagnon (the drunk).

Doesn’t look like a immigration thread here. No hijacks.

We have home-grown idiots, as well.

[netmilsmom]

OMG! We drive this all the time going home to Cleveland.

In fact, we are leaving on the 2nd. It’s scary.

God Bless all of them.

[Alberta's Child]

True. Their names weren’t mentioned in the original article . . . I didn’t see them until another post later in the thread.

[ShadowDancer]

I think they are probably just a blended family which is completely traditional nowadays. It was just weird wording on the author’s part.

[Hardastarboard]

the pick-up truck sheared off the passenger side of the minivan

Coming soon to roadways near you, as soon as we get the new "environmentally correct" fuel standards recently mandated by our "representatives". I saw a car body on a restoration rotisserie this past weekend. It's nothing but a spindly box of air. It's a miracle that anyone survives a head on in an automobile, especially a small unibody car.

[Drew68]

Why does the drunk driver always seem to survive?

This guy is probably going to wish he didn't. Imagine the horror of waking up in a jail cell with a crushing hangover and then being informed that you just killed 5 people.

This guy is going to have a long time to sober up.

[Westlander]

Too common these days. Or maybe just faster access to news.
http://www.wxyz.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=0dcbda33-0018-4640-966e-7522b8de65ac

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Suspect it means the parents aren’t married.

(But apparently the coursework in journalism school consists of nothing these days.)

[Heatseeker]

Actually it might mean the Burkman girls were friends of the daughters of Mr & Mrs Griffin, as this current Toledo Blade article seems to imply.

[Caramelgal]

1. They're illegal aliens.

2. There is some kind of polygamy involved.

How did you come to this “brilliant” leap of logic?

FYI - not all drunk drivers are illegal aliens. And not all families with more than the average 2.5 children are polygamists or illegals.

The last names of the family, the victims were Griffin and Burkman from Parkville, Maryland. I used to live in this neighborhood and have family living there; it’s a predominately white working class neighborhood.

The last name of the drunk driver is “Gagnon” which unless it proves to be a phony name, doesn’t exactly smack of being an illegal.

Before I learned the name of the drunk driver, I too was curious if it might have been an illegal but I didn’t necessarily assume that was the case. There are way too many American born citizens who think it’s OK to get smashed and then get behind the wheel. And there are way too many drunk drivers who are given probation and a slap on the wrist by our judicial system.

[atomic conspiracy]

I was involved in a 5 fatality drunk driving accident in 1978.
My wife was driving our 1972 Impala and broadsided a car that had run a flashing red light at a rural intersection. Her brother and his wife, their eight year old daughter, our 6 week old daughter, and I were also in the car.
The other driver was a 16 year old boy, with a 16 year old girl and two other boys, both 17, as passengers. They had been to a party and the driver was extremely drunk, BAL of .16, more than twice the legal limit.
My sister-in-law and all three passengers in the other car were killed outright. The other driver died the next day. Everyone else was injured except our baby daughter, who didn’t have a scratch.
The parents of the party’s teenage host had provided the booze. They were jailed briefly and eventually plea-bargained for a probated sentence. The dead driver’s insurance company eventually got a court judgment against them but it was overturned.

[ShadowDancer]

Oh my God, that’s horrible. I am so sorry.

[Red in Blue PA]

Why is it always that the drunk driver is never killed?

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.

[Caramelgal]

The address of the some of the children doesn’t mean that they were necessarily “friends”. They could have still been members of a “blended” family where some of the kids may have been from previous marriages and who’s “legal’ primary address is not yet known because the authorities haven’t been able to contact the ex spouse?

Andy Strader, 26, of Wooster, Ohio, said he was entering southbound I-280 from I-75 when a bystander flagged him down to stop him from hitting an accident victim who had fallen onto the pavement. He stopped and entered the minivan, where he assisted a boy and an infant in a safety seat, but also found a girl buckled into her seat.

“I almost became part of it, but I stopped in time,” Mr. Strader said, adding that he saw the pickup’s driver walking around and complaining about jaw pain.

It would seem that Mr. Strader and the unidentified driver who flagged him down are the Good Samaritans in this story. As for the “pickup’s driver walking around and complaining about jaw pain”, I sure hope he experiences a lot more pain once he sobers up.

[atomic conspiracy]

Thanks.
It was a long time ago but I still have some vivid memories of it, especially the amazingly strong impression of things happening in slow motion right after the impact. The car spun twice and came to rest facing the opposite direction. I had always heard about that kind of impression but didn’t realize that it was actually like that. I also remember my over-riding concern for our baby and trying to reach for her before the car had even stopped.

The first person to stop and get out of his car took a couple of steps toward us, then just stood there and started screaming. I cursed him for being such a useless wienie. Eventually a lot of people did stop to help. Someone forced a door open and I got out of the car with the baby but the others were too seriously injured to move.
I was dizzy and my head and arm were starting to hurt. It turned out I had a concussion and a broken arm. I just sat on the ground and held the baby until the ambulances and fire trucks got there. It seemed like a long time but it was really only about three minutes. The rest is a blur of flashing lights and the emergency room and all the rest.

[netmilsmom]

We try to plan our trip around Rush Limbaugh.
I always feel that we have a safer trip at 12:00 than at night.

I pray I’m right.

[Alberta's Child]

How did you come to this “brilliant” leap of logic?

FYI - not all drunk drivers are illegal aliens. And not all families with more than the average 2.5 children are polygamists or illegals.

Please note that my comment about illegal aliens was not an attempt to hijack this thread. I -- along with a lot of other folks here -- was merely speculating about what the hell the following statement from the article could possibly have meant:

Police say the family appears to be non-traditional.

Yes, I realize that Griffin, Burkman and Gagnon are not exactly the kind of names one would expect to find among illegal aliens. But those names don't appear in the original article. And I know that not all drunk drivers are illegal aliens . . . my comment was speculation about the FAMILY involved (there's no indication of any suspicion about the driver of that vehicle being under the influence of alcohol), not the DRUNK DRIVER.

[netmilsmom]

Oh my Goodness!
I am so sorry.

My hubby was hit from behind the day before Christmas Eve. There is 5000.00 in damage to his Ram pickup. The other guy driving a Ram as well, had it totaled. My hubby was in so much shock that he never got the driver’s information.

My hubby slowed down for someone turning right. The other driver doing 40 miles an hour did not.

Hubby has learned what a “No-fault” state is. He wanted the barest minimum in insurance. We now eat the 5000.00. The cheap becomes expensive.