Police: Second person walks away from fatal crash

MASSILLON — New information from city police confirms there was a second person in a vehicle that crashed into a fence early Sunday, instantly killing the driver.

The vehicle continued on, careening into a barn that is part of the R.G. Drage Career Technical Center educational program. The passenger left the scene.

Early information from authorities had indicated David Warthen, 60, was the only one in the vehicle.

According to Harry Campbell, chief investigator for the Stark County Coroner’s Office, Warthen was immediately killed when he was impaled by a fence post that went through the windshield of the car.

Massillon police said Warthen was heading east on Nave Road near Richville Drive SE just before 1:55 a.m. when he failed to negotiate a curve, leaving the roadway and striking a fence, then the east wall of the barn.

On Monday, a completed police report showed there was a second person in the vehicle.

Paul Markwood, EMS coordinator at the Massillon Fire Department, said police were told by people passing by the crash site that a woman had been walking along the roadway nearby. However, police and firefighters were unable to locate her.

Before noon Sunday the department received a call from a 54-year-old city woman complaining of pain after an auto accident. She was transported to an area hospital, Markwood said. Police later learned she was the woman who had left the scene of the early Sunday crash.

According to the Police Department, the woman had non-incapacitating injuries.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation. The Coroner’s Office said it is waiting for the results of a toxicology report.

On Sunday afternoon, maintenance workers from the Stark County Educational Service Center, which oversees R.G. Drage, were able to temporarily secure the barn.

Joe Chaddock, superintendent of Stark County schools, said a damage estimate hadn’t been determined, and that an insurance agent was likely to take a look at the building later this week.

In addition, there was some interior damage to the structure, which is used for classroom space by the school’s junior and senior agriculture programs, Chaddock said.

CREDIT: SAMANTHA ICKES