WELLSTON, Ohio — An off-duty Wellston Police Department officer was killed and another officer seriously injured in a two-vehicle crash early Saturday in Wellston, authorities said.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol said Matthew Juniper, 25, of Wellston, died from injuries sustained in the crash, while Brant Derrow, 40, also of Wellston, was seriously injured. Both officers were off duty at the time.
According to a news release from the Jackson Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the crash occurred around 2 a.m. when a golf cart, driven southbound on South Pennsylvania Avenue near Sixth Street by Derrow with Juniper as a passenger, was struck from behind by a 2014 Hyundai driven by a juvenile. The golf cart veered off the road and hit a tree, while the Hyundai stopped in the roadway.
Derrow was transported to Holzer Medical Center-Jackson and later airlifted to Cabell Huntington Hospital in Huntington, West Virginia, with serious injuries. Juniper was taken to Holzer Medical Center-Jackson, where he was pronounced dead. The juvenile driver sustained minor injuries and was treated at Holzer Medical Center-Jackson.
The crash closed South Pennsylvania Avenue for nearly six hours as the Ohio State Highway Patrol Crash Reconstruction Unit investigated, assisted by the Wellston Police Department, Wellston Fire Department, Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, Jackson County EMS, Jackson County Coroner’s Office, Wellston City Service Director’s Office, and Five Time Towing.
The investigation is ongoing.
A procession was organized Saturday to escort Juniper’s body from Dayton through Jackson and Wellston to Nelsonville. Jackson County Sheriff Tedd Frazier and Wellston Police Chief John Robinson will lead the procession.
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