A 38-year-old woman was seriously injured late Wednesday night after she slammed into a Canton Fire Department vehicle that was blocking lanes at an earlier crash scene on southbound Interstate 77. The fire vehicle's operator, 51-year-old Christopher Burkhardt, suffered only minor injuries, but the impact spun the fire vehicle around and flipped the woman's Toyota Corolla onto its side.
The crash happened near milepost 107.5 in Canton, with News 5 Cleveland reporting it occurred around 11:28 p.m., while Fox 8 put the time at about 11:30 p.m. Canton firefighters and police were already stationed there, having responded to a separate crash about an hour earlier, according to the station's report. The left and center lanes were blocked off as crews worked, with only the right lane left open to passing traffic.
Rachel Dawkins was driving a 2024 Toyota Corolla south in the center lane when she struck the fire department's Chevrolet Tahoe, per the same account. The Ohio State Highway Patrol said Dawkins failed to change lanes or slow down in the moments before the collision.
Vehicles Left Spinning and Overturned
The force of the crash caused the Toyota to overturn and slide off the right side of the roadway, while the Tahoe spun around and came to rest facing east, the report notes. Burkhardt was the fire vehicle's operator. Both drivers were taken to Aultman Hospital — Dawkins with serious injuries and Burkhardt with injuries described as minor.
Fox8.com reported that no charges had been filed as of its report, and OHSP said the investigation into the circumstances of the crash is ongoing.
A Recurring Danger for Ohio Roadside Crews
Stopped emergency vehicles guarding crash scenes have become a persistent hazard for first responders across Ohio and beyond. In April 2025, Town and Country Fire District Lt. Paul Mickolick was struck and killed in Wayne County while helping a driver whose vehicle had gotten stuck in a ditch, after a 2006 Cadillac CTS drove into the same ditch and hit a Ford F-150 that was stuck there, according to Ideastream Public Media. In a similar incident outside Ohio, a Mansfield Fire Department engine intentionally positioned to block traffic and shield crews at an earlier wreck on State Highway 360 was struck by a vehicle, though all three crew members inside were wearing seat belts and were unhurt, per Fox 4.
The danger extends beyond fire crews to road workers statewide. ODOT crew members, vehicles and equipment were struck 88 times in 2025, surpassing the 84 strikes recorded in 2024, according to Spectrum News 1. The outlet also reported that Ohio had logged more than 3,200 work-zone crashes in 2025, including 17 fatal crashes and 79 involving serious injuries, and that a two-hour enforcement operation on U.S. Route 20 near Grafton Road resulted in 21 Move Over law citations.
What Ohio's Move Over Law Requires
Ohio's Move Over law requires drivers approaching a stopped emergency vehicle to change lanes when possible or slow down significantly. From 2020 through 2024, the state issued more than 30,000 citations to drivers in work zones, with 74% of those tickets issued for speeding, Spectrum News 1 reported. Violating the Move Over law is a misdemeanor and can cost drivers up to double the usual fines for a first offense, with additional penalties for distracted driving or repeat violations within the same year, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation.
