A driver died Thursday evening after a utility truck left a south Columbus exit ramp, drove through a ditch, and slammed into the back of a parked tractor-trailer. The crash happened around 5:50 p.m. on the U.S. Route 23 South entrance ramp from Interstate 270 East in Franklin County, leaving one person dead and shutting down part of the ramp as crews responded.
According to WSYX, a white 2018 Chevrolet utility truck was headed south on the ramp when it left the roadway, drove through a ditch, and struck a 2024 Freightliner tractor-trailer that was stopped on the side of the ramp. The Chevrolet driver was the only person in that vehicle, the station reported, citing Franklin County Sheriff Dallas Baldwin, whose office is leading the crash investigation.
As reported by NBC4, the driver of the utility truck was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:06 p.m. The Freightliner driver was not hurt, and the identities of both drivers had not been released as of the station's report.
Multiple Agencies Responded to the Scene
Per WSYX, the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, Ohio State Highway Patrol, Columbus police, and the Columbus Fire Department all responded to the crash. Columbus Fire Department medics were the ones who pronounced the Chevrolet driver dead at the scene, the station reported.
The sheriff's office's Crash Investigation Unit is now handling the probe into what caused the Chevrolet to leave the ramp in the first place, the same report notes. Investigators have not said why the truck veered off the roadway, and the cause of the crash remains under investigation.
Ramp Crashes Have Hit Franklin County Highways Before
This is not the only serious wreck to strike the area's highway ramps and interchanges in recent months. A crash on U.S. 23 North near Rathmell Road in late December killed one person after a tractor-trailer and an Audi sedan collided, according to the Columbus Dispatch. The Dispatch also reported on a wrong-way crash on Interstate 270 in northeastern Franklin County that killed one person and injured another, according to the sheriff's office.
No further details on the cause of Thursday's crash have been released, and the sheriff's office has not indicated when the investigation might conclude.
