A preliminary investigation suggest that texting while driving may have contributed to a crash that killed two Colerain High School girls. Today, the Butler County Sheriff released that information via Twitter.
17-year-old Miranda Lane, of Colerain Township and her passenger, 16 year old Mathilde Jessen, an exchange student from Denmark, died on May 3rd. The crash happened at 4:16 p.m. at the intersection of Ohio 73 and U.S. 127 in Milford Township, near Oxford. Investigators said Lane was heading east on Ohio 73 and failed to yield, striking the the semi; which was headed south on 127.
Investigators from the Butler County Sheriff’s Serious Traffic Accident Reconstruction Team (S.T.A.R.T.) and the Butler County Coroner’s Office say it appears that Lane was texting on her cell phone in very close proximity to the actual time of the crash. The incident still remains under investigation, as results of various toxicology and other tests are still pending.
Jessen was a 12th grader and Lane was a junior at Colerain High.
61-year-old Edward Schatzle from Milford Township was driving a third vehicle which was also hit. His car flipped and he was transported to the University Hospital in Cincinnati by medical helicopter. The driver of the semi, Steve Fish, was treated on the scene for minor injuries. He is from West Harrison, Indiana.
