BY CATHERINE TSAI
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FLORENCE -- A Michigan man was killed Friday near the Donaldson Highway interchange of southbound I-75 in Erlanger. It was the third major traffic accident in that area within 12 hours.
Derek Johnson, 26, of Pontiac, Mich., had been driving a 1990 Mazda in the right lane around 3:05 a.m. when he swerved for an unknown reason, Erlanger police said. He then collided with a tractor-trailer parked in the emergency lane, police said.
Mr. Johnson was thrown from his car and pronounced dead on the scene. The occupant of the tractor-trailer was uninjured.
The tractor-trailer had stopped for the accident Thursday afternoon that left a tanker truck on its side across five lanes of southbound 1-75. Florence police are still seeking the pickup that dropped a pallet of shingles just before that accident.
It was last seen taking the Turfway Road exit on southbound I-75. Anyone with information on the newer model Ford pickup, which may have been red, can call Officer Steve Butts or Officer Rob Bacigalupo at (606) 647-5420.
That accident involved four other vehicles, one of which was a minivan carrying Vernon Bowling, 56, and Beulah Bowling, 53, of Williamstown.
Both were taken to University Hospital in Cincinnati, and Mrs. Bowling was released Thursday. Mr. Bowling's condition was not available Friday.
Long traffic delays from that accident were compounded by a second crash Thursday on I-275 in Erlanger around 5 p.m.
Erlanger police said the accident involved three tractor-trailers on westbound I-275.
