SANDUSKY, Ohio — A Castalia, Ohio man was seriously injured when a car he was driving without a license crashed into an Ohio Highway Patrol post in this Erie County community late Tuesday, authorities said.
Dakota Clouse, 24, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the vehicle, according to the patrol’s Sandusky post. He was taken to Firelands Regional Medical Center with serious injuries, troopers said in a written statement. A hospital spokesman said she had no information about a person by that name.
Mr. Clouse was driving east on U.S. 6 at a high rate of speed in the 500 block of Fremont Avenue about 9:05 p.m. when the car went off the right side of the road, according to the patrol. The driver over-corrected, causing the vehicle to drive back on the road and then off its left side and across the lawn of the patrol post, striking a concrete sign and crashing into the front of the building, troopers said.
The impact of the crash damaged the walls and windows of the conference room, which was not occupied after a public meeting was adjourned an hour earlier, according to the patrol.
The driver did not have a valid driver’s license because of a drunken driving conviction in September of 2015, troopers said. He also had an outstanding felony warrant through the county sheriff’s office.
The crash remains under investigation. Alcohol and speed are suspected to have contributed to the crash, according to the patrol.
Sandusky, the county seat, is about 55 miles east of Toledo.
First Published April 13, 2016, 11:53 a.m.