For some reason illegals do this a LOT more than Americans.....

Some victims identified in wrong-way I-270 wrecks
Drivers sought to dodge speeding car yesterday; 7 injured
December 26, 2008
Elizabeth Gibson
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/12/26/i270crash.ART_ART_12-26-08_A1_4LCBH8V.html?sid=101
The Franklin County sheriff's office has released the names of some of the people in a series of car wrecks caused by a wrong-way driver on the south Outerbelt on Christmas.

The car collided with five vehicles and injured seven people, nearly killing the wrong-way driver.

A fake Ohio ID and Mexican driver's license identified as Altunar Baltazar the critically injured driver of the white Nissan Maxima that sped 5 miles west through eastbound traffic, Deputy Steve M. Fickenworth said.

A caller to 911 said he saw the Maxima driving recklessly as it exited I-270 at Alum Creek Drive just before calls started coming in that the vehicle was going west on eastbound I-270.

A Chevy Trail Blazer rolled off the highway when it swerved out of the way. Columbus residents Richard Hammond, 52; his wife, Rhonda, 43; and her pregnant daughter, Mahogany Smith, 20, were in the vehicle.

Family friend Freda Heller said Smith's fetus was fine and she would be released from the hospital today. Rhonda Hammond's leg was dislocated in the crash, Heller said.

Troy Blankenship, 29, of Grove City said his Buick spun out and crashed into a tree while his wife, Christie, tried to avoid the Maxima. Their 7-year-old son was also in the car, but none of the three were severely hurt.

Fickenworth also said a van carrying Columbus resident Larry Riggs and his two children was in one of the crashes.


––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The original version of this story appears below:

The path of destruction and fear stretched at least 5 miles yesterday morning after a 24-year-old man rocketed his car the wrong way on the South Outerbelt.

The toll: Seven people injured, including the critically injured driver, Altunar Baltazar. Six vehicles crunched, including the smashed Nissan Maxima that witnesses say other cars were lucky to avoid.

"He headed right for us," Columbus resident Robert Crawford said. "It was like he was trying to hit us. He had the pedal to the floor. I knew he was going to clip someone quick."

Crawford, who was heading east on I-270, said the white car suddenly whizzed into sight over a rise on the highway near Alum Creek Drive. He dodged it and watched cars scramble to clear the road in his rearview mirror.

The Franklin County sheriff's office said the driver's unofficial Ohio ID card identified him as Baltazar, and gave his address as 807 Derrer Rd. He actually was pronounced dead at the scene, but medics later decided he was still showing signs of life and sent him to Ohio State University Medical Center, a sheriff's statement said.

The six other injured motorists were taken to Grant Medical Center and Mount Carmel West hospital. Authorities had not publicly identified them last night.

The crash, which occurred about 10:20 a.m., closed I-270 eastbound until about 4 p.m.

Grove City resident Sean Downs, 41, said he was traveling westbound when he looked across the median and saw the white car. He said it had to be going more than 95 miles per hour when it crashed.

"It was something surreal," he said. "I'm surprised he made it as far as he did. People were dodging like crazy."

Two cars swerved off the road, one rolling, to get out of the way, Downs said. When the speeding car reached the Scioto River, he said, it collided with a van that couldn't get out of the way.

Several law-enforcement agencies responded to the scene.

Little information was available yesterday about Baltazar.

A Columbus resident named Altunar Baltazar, who would be about the same age as the driver yesterday, was arrested last year and charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated and driving without a license, according to the Marysville Journal Tribune.

Alcohol often is a factor in wrong-way driving, although occasionally someone drives against traffic to attempt suicide.

In a 2004 Christmas accident, a drunken motorist driving the wrong way caused a crash on I-70, killing three young men from Grove City.

That year, there were 10 deaths caused by eight wrong-way crashes within six months in Ohio. The Ohio Department of Transportation reacted by adding 1,000 wrong-way signs at interchanges around Columbus.

The collision yesterday came amid State Highway Patrol estimates that Ohio will have a record low for car-crash deaths this year, with 1,080 motorists killed as of Wednesday, patrol spokesman Sgt. Darren Blosser said.

Past years have ranged from 1,239 deaths to 2,778 deaths, he said, but greater highway enforcement and a drop in drivers because of gas prices reduced deaths.

They should ban cars in Ohio , their killing to many people... Way more than guns in Chicago.

With difficulty, I limit my response to .

[MontyPython]I'm not dead yet![/MontyPython]

I'm getting better!

He's not dead, he's just borracho.

Shoulda put one on a brick and slapped him harder.

bump