83-year-old driver killed, 19-year-old seriously hurt in wrong-way crash in Warren County

LEBANON, Ohio (FOX19) - An 83-year-old driver is dead and another who is 19 is hospitalized with serious injuries in a wrong way, head-on crash in Warren County overnight, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

The accident was reported in the northbound lanes of State Route 48 bypass at the overpass to the Main Street exit in Lebanon about 11:40 p.m. Monday, post dispatchers said.

Seven minutes prior, Warren County’s 911 center had put out a broadcast for law enforcement to be on the lookout for a wrong-way driver on Ohio 48, patrol officials wrote in a news release.

A white, 2003 Chevy S-10 pickup truck headed southbound in the northbound lanes collided head-on with a compact vehicle, a silver, 2006 Saturn Ion, according to dispatchers and the release.

The driver of the pickup truck, Vestle Ridenour, of Morrow was pronounced dead at the scene, the release states.

The other motorist, Seth Meintel of Lebanon, was extricated from his vehicle and taken in an ambulance with serious injuries to Miami Valley Hospital Medical Center, according to the state patrol.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Alcohol and drugs do not appear to be factors in the crash, the patrol said.

Ohio 48 was shut down for about three hours while authorities investigated. It reopened just before 3 a.m. Tuesday.

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