A 33-year-old Chillicothe man was airlifted to a Columbus trauma center Friday afternoon after his westbound Ford Focus crossed the grass median on U.S. 35 and slammed into a Kenworth tractor-trailer that was parked on the eastbound shoulder near the State Route 104 exit in Ross County. The collision forced a full closure of eastbound U.S. 35 for roughly two hours while crews cleared the scene.
Ohio State Highway Patrol identified the driver as Michael Leeth, who troopers say drove off the left side of the highway before crossing into oncoming lanes and striking the disabled semi, according to myfox28columbus.com. Leeth was seriously injured and transported by MedFlight to Grant Medical Center in Columbus for treatment. The truck's driver, 66-year-old Michael Cravens, was inside the parked Kenworth when it was hit and was also injured in the crash, per the same report.
OSHP is still investigating what caused Leeth to leave his lane and cross the median, and the underlying cause has not been determined. Troopers confirmed to 10TV that eastbound U.S. 35 reopened roughly two hours after the 3:30 p.m. collision.
A Corridor Under Legal and Physical Strain
Ohio law generally requires drivers on divided highways to stay in the right-hand roadway and bars crossing the median except at designated crossovers, under Ohio Revised Code Section 4511.35, according to the City of Huber Heights. Separately, Ohio Revised Code Section 4511.66 makes it illegal to stop or park on a highway's main-traveled lanes, though stopping on the paved shoulder is permitted for a disabled vehicle — the situation Cravens' tractor-trailer was reportedly in when it was struck.
The stretch of U.S. 35 near the State Route 104 interchange has seen back-to-back trouble. Just a day before the crash, an overturned vehicle load temporarily shut down the eastbound U.S. 35 on-ramp at State Route 104 for nearly an hour, according to the Scioto Valley Guardian. Four emergency response agencies — VA Fire, Scioto Township EMS, Union Township EMS, and the Ross County Sheriff's Office — assisted state troopers at Friday's crash scene, the outlet reported.
Airlifted to Ohio's Busiest Trauma Center
MedFlight of Ohio, a non-profit air critical care service co-owned by OhioHealth and OSU Wexner Medical Center, keeps a base in Chillicothe on Stone Road, putting a helicopter close at hand for rural crash sites like this one. Leeth was flown directly to Grant Medical Center, which OhioHealth describes as the state's busiest adult Level I Trauma Center, evaluating more than 7,000 trauma patients a year from 55 counties across Ohio.
The crash adds to a stretch of highway safety concerns around Chillicothe even as traffic patterns shift due to nearby construction. The Ohio Department of Transportation is midway through a $19.29 million reconstruction of the State Route 159/Bridge Street corridor and its U.S. 35 interchange, a project Hoodline detailed in its report on the Bridge Street rebuild, with work scheduled to run through summer 2027.
Countywide, Ohio State Highway Patrol records show Ross County had logged five fatal traffic crashes so far in 2026 through mid-August, down from 15 recorded across the county in all of 2025. Friday's crash was serious but not reported as fatal, and both drivers' current medical conditions have not been publicly updated beyond the initial injury reports.
