ORLAND – At approximately 4:45 p.m. Monday, troopers from the ISP Toll Road Post were dispatched to investigate a two-vehicle head-on crash in the eastbound lanes of I-80/90 at mile marker 136 near Orland.
Arriving on the scene, troopers found a Lexus passenger car with heavy front-end damage blocking the eastbound lanes, a passenger vehicle down in the eastbound side ditch engulfed in flames, and six injured adults being tended to by first responders and a few good Samaritans that stopped to assist.
Two of the injured were bleeding severely, one from a leg wound and one from an arm wound. Troopers applied tourniquets to both of those patients to control the bleeding. Steuben County EMS personnel arrived on scene and took over medical care prior to the arrival of three medical helicopters (two Parkview Samaritan helicopters, and one from Lutheran Air) needed to fly all six patients to hospitals in Fort Wayne.
Several motorists stopped and immediately rendered assistance by removing all four occupants from the burning car. By the time Orland Fire Department was on the scene, that car was fully engulfed in flames.
Trooper Sam Waterhouse’s preliminary crash investigation revealed that a silver 2010 Lexus passenger vehicle driven by Samuel Afagbedzi, 37, from Maumee, Ohio was initially traveling in the westbound lanes. Afagbedzi is believed to have fallen asleep and veered off road into the center grass median. Afagbedzi’s vehicle crossed over into the eastbound lanes and crashed head-on into an eastbound passenger car (which has not yet been identified due to fire damage) driven by Gary Kohl, 58, from Mentor, Ohio. After that initial impact, Kohl’s car ran off-road into the side ditch and caught fire.
There were a total of six occupants involved in the crash; two in Afagbedzi’s vehicle, and four in Kohl’s vehicle. All occupants were properly restrained.
Both eastbound and westbound lanes of travel had to be shut down during the investigation. Landing areas had to be established on the roadway for the three responding helicopters, and there was a lengthy cleanup process on both sides. Traffic flow was restored at approximately 7:45 p.m. Monday.
This is an ongoing investigation. At this time, there is no further information to release.
Trooper Waterhouse was assisted at the scene by troopers from the ISP Toll Road Post, Steuben County Sheriff’s Department, Steuben County EMS, Orland Fire Department, Parkview Samaritan and Lutheran Air flight crews, Toll Road Maintenance personnel, and Bill Professional Towing.
