Thursday, April 23, 2015

4 UTILITY WORKERS WERE SERIOUSLY INJURED WHEN HIT BY FEMALE DRIVER IN OHIO





APRIL 22, 2015

WEST CHESTER TWP. – A car hit four utility workers on Cox Road and sent five people – including the driver – to the hospital with injuries Wednesday afternoon.

Witnesses said a woman driving northbound on Cox Road near the Liberty Way intersection drove over the center line and hit four workers next to a utility truck installing new power lines to the area.

The workers and unidentified female driver were transported to nearby West Chester Hospital with serious injuries. Two crash victims were later transported by medical helicopter to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, according to West Chester police spokeswoman Barb Wilson.



A hard hat from one of four utility workers struck by a car was tossed across Cox Road in Butler County's West Chester Township when the driver plowed into them Wednesday afternoon. Four workers and a female driver were injured. Police and other drivers say the driver crossed the center line of Cox Road near the Liberty Way intersection. All five were hospitalized. (Photo: The Enquirer/Michael D. Clark)

West Chester police reported the accident took place at 3:23 p.m. The investigation continued into the night as authorities worked to reconstruct the scene, Wilson said.

Southbound traffic on Cox Road will be closed for several hours, officers at the scene said, as they investigate the crash scene. Northbound traffic is limited but flowing.

Witnesses said the driver was traveling northbound on Cox Road where the road curves to the east, but the driver continued straight and drove into three workers near a utility line truck on the southbound lane.

A worker was in the elevated basket working to install new power lines along the road but was not knocked out from the basket. Three other workers were standing near the utility truck when the car drove into them, eyewitnesses said.

Police said they had no information on the conditions of the workers, and West Chester Hospital said the have no information to release yet on the four injured workers or driver of the car.

Wednesday's crash represents the second case of a utility worker injured on the job in Greater Cincinnati in 2015.

A utility worker died Feb. 6 after being struck by an alleged drunken driver on the side of Dixie Highway in Florence, Kentucky, according to Enquirer archives.

Source: http://www.cincinnati.com