Driver of SUV killed in collision with semitrailer in Darke County

DARKE COUNTY — UPDATE @ 5:05 p.m.

The driver of a GMC Acadia the collided with an oncoming semitrailer Thursday morning on U.S. 127 near Hunter Road has died, the Darke County Sheriff’s Office said in new information released this afternoon.

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The driver of the SUV, who has not been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene, the sheriff’s office said.

According to the preliminary investigation, the maroon SUV was headed north on 127 near Hunter Road at about 5:48 a.m. when it traveled left of the centerline and hit a northbound Freightliner semitrailer driven by Samuel Duran, 47, of San Antonio, Texas. Duran continued south, traveling left of center and ending up in a ditch.

The SUV, engulfed in flames, continued off the right side of the road and came to rest in a ditch, the sheriff’s office said.

Duran was treated at the scene and released.

U.S. 127 between Hunter Road and Horatio-Harris Creek Road was closed for about eight hours for the investigation that is being conducted by the sheriff’s Accident Reconstruction Team, the county coroner’s investigator, Ohio State Motor Carrier Enforcement, the EPA and the Ohio Department of Transportation, the sheriff’s office said.

The crash remains under investigation.

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