MOUNT VERNON — Four of five people involved in a two-car crash on Ohio 661, Wednesday at 3:30 p.m., were taken to Grant Medical Center, all with nonlife-threatening injuries, according to the investigating Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper Todd Carpenter.
Jessica McKean, 25, Mount Vernon, was traveling with her two children, ages 1 and almost 7. The patrol did not release their names.
The other car was driven by Raymond Cameron, 88, Mount Vernon, with his wife, Estelletta, 87, as passenger.
“I was about 800 feet behind them,” eyewitness Michael Rockwell said. He said Cameron was northbound when his car went left of center approaching a hillcrest.
“The Jeep was knocked up in the air then landed on the front end and rolled on the left side,” said Rockwell as he described the collision at the hillcrest. Rockwell added he parked his truck in the driveway across from where the crash happened.
“When I got to the Jeep, the woman was getting out and told me she had two children in the back seat,” said Chad Worth, who was outside his home with his back to the road and heard the loud thump of the crash. Worth and Rockwell tried to get to the children but had to roll the Jeep partly upright before they could remove them.
Worth said he wrapped the two youngsters in blankets to keep them warm until the Mount Vernon Fire Department squads arrived. Squads from Homer and Utica were called for mutual aid taking the injured to Knox Community Hospital. They were taken by squads to Columbus.
Cameron told Trooper Carpenter he fell asleep when his car drifted across the road. He was charged with driving left of center.
The infant was released to the care of its father.
