PORT CLINTON -- Four people were injured Friday and about a dozen vehicles damaged when a truck crashed through the parking lot of a Walmart east of Port Clinton.
Three people were taken by three medical helicopters to hospitals in Toledo, and a fourth was taken by ground to Magruder Hospital in Port Clinton, according to Port Clinton fire Chief Kent Johnson.
The driver of the vehicle who caused the incident is in critical condition, according to the Ottawa County Sheriff’s office. The rest of the victims’ conditions, as well as names, were not immediately released.
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Witnesses said a black truck hit pedestrians and cars as it moved quickly through the lot.
The incident took place about 8 p.m.
Ottawa County Sheriff Steve Levorchick described the incident as a “pretty major private property accident,” but said he did not yet know many details.
Authorities said they would pull surveillance video to determine what took place.
Observers witnessed a chaotic scene as the truck moved through the lot.
Christopher Forster, 11, of Cleveland was waiting in his family’s vehicle while his parents ran into the store. He described a chain-reaction of collisions when the truck hit a pole and another vehicle, sending other vehicles into one another.
He was uninjured; his family’s car was dented.
Port Clinton resident Nicole DeFreitas, interviewed by phone, said she was parked near a store entrance and a large, black “monster” truck began to move quickly.
“All of a sudden, he just guns it,” she said of the driver. “He just went straight through the parking lot hitting people, cars.”
She said when the vehicle came to a stop its wheels were still spinning and there was smoke.
Sue Cunningham of Danbury Township, also interviewed by phone, said she was walking into the retailer’s front doors when a pickup truck came through the lot. She said the truck hit two pedestrians.
“It’s a holiday weekend in vacationland, so the parking lot is really, really busy,” she said. “For the longest time, they weren’t letting people in or out of the store.”
She said she could see the driver of the truck slumped over inside the vehicle.
Staff writer Roberta Gedert contributed to this report.
Contact Vanessa McCray at: vmccray@theblade.com or 419-724-6065, or on Twitter @vanmccray.
First Published July 4, 2015, 12:37 a.m.
