CINCINNATI — One motorist was killed and three other people were hospitalized with life-threatening injuries Thursday night after two cars collided and one crashed into a house in Westwood.
Two cars collided and one crashed into the side of a house around 10:30 p.m. Thursday at 5700 block of Glenway Avenue, killing one driver and leaving the other — as well as two elderly women inside the home — with life-threatening injuries, police said.
Police say Brian Griffin, 40, was driving a 2008 Toyota Tundra pickup truck west on Glenway Avenue at about 70 miles per hour -- well above the speed limit -- when he changed lanes and struck a 2004 Jaguar XJ, which investigators said was also traveling at about 50 miles per hour.
When the two westbound vehicles collided, the Jaguar swerved off to the side and drove up the steep lawn in front of the home, which acted like a ramp, according to police. The angle and momentum propelled it into the side of the building, and the driver was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver's identity is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
Griffin was not wearing his seatbelt and he sustained life-threatening injuries when he was ejected from his truck. Griffin was transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center where he is listed in serious condition.
Neighbor James Queen said he’s been replaying the haunting images from the night before. He heard the crash and came outside to find Griffin’s body had flown into his front yard.
Queen got emotional describing to WCPO the sight of finding Griffin lying in his yard, badly injured.
“It was this crash so loud you could feel it in your stomach,” he said. “Here’s someone laying in your yard… It’s hard to talk about it.”
Queen said he stayed with Griffin until paramedics arrived, and that he was badly bleeding, struggling to breathe.
When the Jaguar crashed through the home's walls, debris from the crash struck Hildegarde Froehlich, 84, and her sister, Eleanor Froehlich, 94, who were inside their residence.
Both women sustained life-threatening injuries and were transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Both are listed in serious but stable condition.
Excessive speed and impairment were factors in this crash, police suspect. The Traffic Unit is continuing the investigation and any witnesses to this crash are asked to contact the Cincinnati Police Department’s Traffic Unit at (513) 352-2514.
“Once that red car went under that truck, the truck started flipping into the yard, and then that red car went straight into that house and the noise that it made - it differently shook a lot the neighbors around here," neighbor Keith Carota said.
WCPO is following this story and will update it as more information becomes available.
