Three Killed in Wrong Way Crash on I-90 in Avon, Ohio, After Tesla Flees a Traffic Stop

Three people were killed and a fourth was injured late Sunday, Nov. 8, when a Tesla traveling the wrong way on Interstate 90 struck two vehicles near Nagel Road in Avon, Ohio, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said. The crash happened at about 11:50 p.m., troopers said.

The people who died

Andrew Sheridan, 50, of Avon Lake, was driving the Tesla. Josylynn R. Geren, 24, of Elyria, was driving a Chevrolet Cruze. Samantha Spicer, 24, of Vermilion, was a passenger in the Cruze. All three were pronounced dead at the scene, the patrol said.

The second vehicle the Tesla struck was a Chevrolet Traverse. Richard A. Siaz, 26, of Lorain, was driving the Traverse. He was taken to an area hospital with injuries the patrol described as non-life-threatening. The Cruze and the Traverse were both traveling west when the Tesla hit them.

The stop before the crash

Avon police had stopped the Tesla earlier that night, after the car was reported leaving the scene of a domestic incident, the patrol said. The stop did not hold the car. In the words of the patrol release, as quoted by Lorain Daily: "The Tesla fled from the stop and entered Interstate 90 from Nagel Road, traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes."

From Nagel Road, the Tesla went east against westbound traffic. It then struck the Cruze and the Traverse near Nagel Road. Troopers gave the crash time as about 11:50 p.m. on Nov. 8.

Closure and two investigations

The westbound lanes near the crash were closed for about four hours. They have since reopened, the patrol said.

Two investigations are now running. Troopers from the patrol's Elyria Post are investigating the crash itself. The Avon Police Department is investigating the earlier domestic incident, the traffic stop, and what happened before the crash. That split leaves the highway deaths with the state patrol and the events that led the Tesla onto I-90 with the city police who made the stop.

The sequence, as troopers gave it

The patrol account runs in a clear order. A Tesla is reported leaving the scene of a domestic incident in Avon. City police stop the car. The car flees that stop and reaches Interstate 90 at Nagel Road. It enters the highway heading east, in lanes carried for westbound traffic. Near Nagel Road it meets two westbound Chevrolets, a Cruze and a Traverse, and strikes both. Three of the four people named in the three vehicles die at the scene. The fourth, the Traverse driver, survives with injuries the patrol called non-life-threatening. The westbound side then stays closed for about four hours, and the road later reopens.