Traffic accident sends truck crashing into Ohio church’s live nativity scene, killing man

Truck crashes at Ohio nativity scene, killing man

ASHTABULA, Ohio — A retired fire chief performing in a live nativity scene outside a northeast Ohio church assisted injured spectators after a pickup truck crashed into the small audience, killing one person.

Former Ashtabula Fire Chief Norman Jepson, dressed as one of the Three Wise Men, said he checked the injured and called for help. Several ambulances responded.

As many as six people may have been injured in the Wednesday night accident outside Trinity Presbyterian Church, said Ronald Kaydo, a police sergeant in Ashtabula, a city of about 21,000 residents on Lake Erie’s coastline.

Jepson said a car struck a pickup truck and the truck crashed into people watching the performance, pinning a 57-year-old man against a utility pole. That man died later at a hospital in Cleveland, about an hour southwest of Ashtabula.

Jepson said his back was to the audience when he heard a bang, which he thought was a fender-bender. But within moments, a truck was on the sidewalk, he said.

“I started seeing people flying through the air,” Jepson said. “Four were in the air, but one was a woman who received a glancing blow and refused treatment.”

Jepson said Friday the accident has been very unsettling for members of his church.

Police are investigating the accident.

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Information from: The Star-Beacon, www.starbeacon.com