DEADLY MULTI- VEHICLE CRASH IN I-71 INVOLVING A HEAD-ON COLLISION WITH A TRACTOR TRAILER TRUCK
January 29, 2015
Christopher Thornhill, a 33-year-old truck driver from
Rossburg, Ohio, was driving northbound on I-71 in Verona when he sideswiped an
unoccupied disabled vehicle on the side of the road and crashed into oncoming
traffic, officials said.
Two vehicles slammed head-on into Thornhill's overturned
truck.
He managed to walk away without serious injuries, but the
crash killed one person, seriously injured another and shut down part of the
highway for more than five hours Thursday morning. His tractor-trailer lay strewn across the
highway, bits and pieces of metal scattered in the grassy median separating
northbound Interstate 71 from southbound I-71 in Boone County.
One of the drivers, 45-year-old Mark Sevilla of Lexington,
Kentucky, died before paramedics even arrived at the scene.
The other driver, 64-year-old Sandra Edwards of Cincinnati,
was flown to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, said Tom Scheben,
spokesperson for the Boone County Sheriff's Office.
Thornhill's tractor-trailer, owned by DL Winner Livestock
Express, was equipped to transport livestock but the trailer was empty at the time
of the crash.
The disabled vehicle was not in the roadway when Thornhill
struck it, Scheben said. It was not immediately clear what caused Thornhill to
hit the disabled vehicle.
Authorities closed I-71 in both directions near the 71/75
split until about 11 a.m., when the northbound side reopened.
Southbound I-71, blocked by the overturned tractor-trailer,
was reopened around 5:15 p.m., Scheben said in a news release.
Initial investigations indicate all drivers involved were
wearing their seat belts.