A deadly summer on Franklin County roads: Two killed in latest fatal wreck
Two people lost their lives over the weekend in the latest in a string of fatal crashes in Franklin County.
Two men died when the vehicles they were in collided on Lincoln Way East (U.S. 30) in Greene Township about 8 p.m. Saturday, according to Pennsylvania State Police.
A westbound vehicle traveled through the center turn lane and struck the front end of another vehicle.
Joshua Reed, the driver of the first vehicle, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
David Wentz was pronounced dead at WellSpan Chambersburg Hospital. He was a passenger in the other vehicle.
Three other people, a passenger in Reed's vehicle and the driver and another passenger in the vehicle Wentz was in, were seriously injured in the crash, according to police.
In addition to state police, the Fayetteville Volunteer Fire Department and EMS, West Shore EMS, Mont Alto EMS and the Franklin County coroner assisted at the scene.
The police report did not include other details, including the victims' ages and where they lived. The Franklin County coroner's office did not immediately respond to a request for more information.
State police said more information will be released later.
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It's been a deadly summer on Franklin County roads
Including the recent crash, at least 10 people have died this summer in crashes in the county.
The crash on Sept. 2 happened less than two weeks after two crashes on opposite sides of the county on Aug. 21 left two people dead. Five people were killed in a crash on Interstate 81 earlier last month, and a woman was killed in a crash in July.
Johnny O. Epps, 51 of Chambersburg, died while being taken to a hospital after his Ford F-150 pickup truck collided head-on with a tractor-trailer on Lincoln Way West (U.S. 30) near Mercersburg Road (Pa. 416) in St. Thomas Township.
Epps was attempting to turn into a store parking lot when his truck hit the tractor-trailer, which ran off the road and hit a utility pole and a parked Ford Econoline. Debris from the tractor-trailer hit and damaged several gas pumps at St. Thomas Diesel.
About two hours after that crash, Ernest S Bowens, 69, of Shippensburg, was killed in a head-on collision in Southampton Township.
He was driving a Nissan Pathfinder south on Olde Scotland Road (Pa. 696) at 7:39 p.m. when the vehicle crossed the center line and struck a Navistar SA525 truck, according to state police. Bowen's vehicle then caught fire.
A crash Aug. 10 on Interstate 81 took the lives of five people, four of them from one family.
ATV motocross champion Dane Holander, 19, and his family were traveling to a race in Tennessee when a tire blew and their motorhome traveled across the grassy median and into the northbound lanes, where it struck a tractor-trailer head-on.
Dane, his sister Miranda, 21, and their parents Donald and Kimberly Holander, were all pronounced dead at the scene. The truck driver, James Shade, of Martinsburg, W.Va., was also killed.
The Holanders' dog also died in the wreck, which happened about 8:50 p.m. near mile marker 18 on I-81 northbound in Greene Township. The northbound lanes of the interstate between exits 17 (Walker Road) and 20 (Scotland) were closed for hours after the crash happened until after 6 a.m.
A Greencastle woman, 69-year-old Pamela M. Scott, was pronounced dead at the scene of a crash on July 17 in Antrim Township.
She was traveling east on Williamson Road at 8:20 a.m. when her Jeep Wrangler drifted across the center line and hit a westbound 2023 Kenworth TJ driven by Emeryck M. Bender, 40, of Shippensburg. The Jeep spun 180 degrees before stopping in the middle of the road, while the truck went off the road and rolled over on the driver's side.
The driver of the truck was not injured.
Amber South can be reached at asouth@publicopiniononline.com.