Butler County, OH: 5 drivers in I-75 crash ‘very lucky’ to walk away on Wednesday, July 15th 2015

The initial crash occurred shortly after 4:20 p.m. when Jonathan Fink, 43, of Centerville, experienced a medical issue and lost control of a 2004 Ford F-150, striking a 2008 Jeep Patriot driven by Donald Blanton, 65, of West Chester Twp., said Trooper Daniel York of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.The impact of the crash sent the Jeep spinning across the highway, where it was hit by a Kenworth tractor trailer driven by Lee Heintz, 39, of West Monroe, N.Y., York said.The Jeep then hit a 2011 Mini Cooper driven by Brenda Kirkpatrick, 44, of Germantown, whose vehicle collided with a 1993 Mazda MX-6 driven by Neal Wood, 34, of Trenton, he said.Meanwhile, the pickup truck hit the concrete median wall separating northbound and southbound lanes, bouncing back across all four lanes of the highway and striking a guardrail.All drivers were taken to Atrium Medical Center in Middletown to be treated for minor injuries and as a precautionary measure, York said.“It was such a severe accident, they didn’t want to take any chances,” he said.It’s a “rare occasion” that such an incident occurs and all parties involved remain relatively unscathed, York said.
“Not too often do you have a crash like this, especially for this number of vehicles and a commercial 80,000-pound semi involved, and you don’t have injuries,” he said. “All occupants were very lucky to walk away with just bumps and bruises and small scrapes.”Traffic was limited to one lane during response to and cleanup of the crash and backed up beyond the Interstate 275 interchange, about 13 miles away. All lanes didn’t reopen until around 6:40 p.m., York said.But within a matter of minutes, a 2014 Freightliner semi driven by James Finamore, 54, of Oneida, Tenn., drove off the left side of I-75 and into the median, striking the concrete median barrier, said Sgt. Jeff Staples of the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Hamilton Post.The impact of the crash overturned the semi and it partially landed on a 2002 Lexus IS300 driven by Caroline Rhinehart, 34, of Dayton.Finamore was taken to West Chester Hospital to be treated for minor injuries, Staples said. Rhinehart was “shaken up” by the crash, but uninjured.With the tractor trailer on its side, diesel and oil leaked from the vehicle and another highway shutdown ensued to allow for clean up of the fluid and both vehicles.All lanes were not reopened until around 10:30 p.m.Staples said Finamore told OSHP something broke in the steering apparatus of the vehicle, but the crash remains under investigation.

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6-vehicle crash clogs NB I-75 in Monroe