Washington Township, PA – Two women from Clarion are left with serious injuries after a rollover crash caused by hitting the wheel of a semi-truck on Interstate 80 on Friday.
State Police in DuBois say it happened just before 6:30 p.m. Friday at mile marker 88.4, between the Reynoldsville and DuBois airport exits on I-80 in Washington Township, Jefferson County.
25-year-old Cassandra Smith from Clarion had been driving her Ford Taurus westbound in the left lane, attempting to pass an International Harvester Prostar truck, driven by 25-year-old Hunter Hill from Ohio.
Just after passing the truck, Smith swerved over in an attempt to merge into the right lane. The right side of her car struck the left front wheel of Hill’s truck.
Smith’s Ford traveled through the median, overturned, and struck an embankment. She and her passenger, 28-year-old Sarah Lowers of Clarion, both had to be extracted from the vehicle by emergency crews.
They suffered serious injuries and were taken to Penn Highlands DuBois first, but they were later taken to UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh for life-threatening injuries. Both are believed to have no been wearing their seat belts.
Hill and his passenger, 38-year-old Richard Johnson from Ohio, were both not injured.
The investigation in ongoing into this crash, and there is no further update on either of the women’s current conditions.
