Driver who ran stop sign killed in Ashtabula crash: OSHP

AUSTINBURG TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WJW) -- A 77-year-old driver died in a two-vehicle crash on Thursday evening, May 21. His 77-year-old passenger suffered life-threatening injuries, according to a news release from the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Troopers in Ashtabula County responded just before 5:30 p.m. to the scene at the intersection of state Route 307 and Windsor-Mechanicsville Road in the township. Troopers said the driver of a van, identified as 77-year-old Paul King of Newton Falls, was headed north on Windsor-Mechanicsville Road and ran the stop sign at state Route 307. A pickup truck headed east on state Route 307, driven by a 63-year-old Jefferson man, struck the van, causing it to roll off the north side of the roadway, according to the patrol. The pickup truck went off the north side of the roadway and hit two parked vehicles, according to the patrol. King was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the patrol. King's passenger, a 77-year-old Newton Falls woman, who was seated in the front-right seat, was transported to a nearby hospital then later flown to a Cleveland hospital with life-threatening injuries, according to the patrol. The driver of the pickup truck suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to the patrol.