The Stark County Coroner’s Office has identified the victim killed in a four-vehicle crash on U.S. Route 30 last month as Joshua Smothers, 38, a Canton-area resident.
According to Tammy Wilkes, an investigator with the Stark County Coroner’s Office, Smothers was positively identified through DNA testing 15 days after the crash.
The crash occurred at 4:57 p.m. Dec. 18 near milepost 24 in Osnaburg Township, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Canton Post.
Troopers said a Chevrolet Silverado was stopped eastbound on U.S. Route 30 while waiting to turn left onto Cindell Street SE, with a Ford Escort stopped behind it. A Ford F-150 traveling eastbound struck the Ford Escort, pushing it into the Silverado and causing both the Ford Escort and the Ford F-150 to catch fire.
A Tesla Model Y traveling westbound was struck by debris from the crash.
Smothers, who was driving the Ford Escort, suffered fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. Other individuals involved in the crash suffered non-life-threatening injuries or were not injured, troopers said.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Osnaburg Fire Department, Louisville Fire Department, Sandy Creek Fire Department, Quad Ambulance, Rocky’s Towing and the Ohio Department of Transportation.
The crash remains under investigation.
