The Full Story

Girl, 4, killed

Date: Sunday, August 20, 2000
Byline: GARY WESMAN
Source: www.goerie.com

A preschooler was killed and her parents were injured Sunday afternoon in a collision on Interstate 90 in Girard Township while they were heading home from a trip to Niagara Falls, authorities said.

Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook said Xinyue Zhao, 4, died at 2:28 p.m. while undergoing treatment in the emergency room of Saint Vincent Health Center. Cook said the family is from China and the girl's father is a visiting scholar who is working at Ohio State University on a research grant.

State Trooper Mark Temel identified the girl's father as Changyin Zhao, 33, and her mother as Ling Shen, 29, both of 810 Riverview Drive in Columbus, Ohio.

Temel said Ling Shen was severely injured in the crash. He described Changyin Zhao's injuries as "moderate." Both were taken to Saint Vincent for treatment. A nursing supervisor there Sunday said the hospital could not release any information about the couple's conditions. The hospital was waiting for friends and colleagues of the Zhaos to arrive in Erie, she said.

The accident happened on I-90 in Girard Township, about two-tenths of a mile west of Exit 3, at 1:10 p.m.

Cook said the Zhaos were returning to Columbus from a weekend trip to Niagara Falls. Temel said Changyin Zhao was driving a 2000 Chevrolet Malibu west on I-90 and the accident happened this way:

The car drifted partway from the passing lane into the driving lane. Changyin Zhao overcorrected his steering and the car slid sideways across the median into the eastbound lanes, into the path of an oncoming 1993 GMC Suburban.

The driver of the truck, Brian Bunnell, 30, of Newport, N.H., could not stop in time to avoid a collision. The front of the truck hit the right side of the car, which had veered southwesterly into the eastbound lanes.

After impact the car and truck spun into a roadside woods and the truck overturned on its side.

Bunnell was not hurt, Temel said.

Ambulance crews from the West County Paramedic Association and volunteers from Dobler Hose Co. and the Springfield, Lake City and Platea volunteer fire departments tended to the injured travelers. LifeStar and STAT MedEvac helicopters flew the Zhaos to the hospital.

Temel said everyone in both vehicles wore seat belts except Ling Shen, the girl's mother.

Cook said the mother was a front-seat passenger and the girl rode in the back seat. "Based on her injuries, it would appear she was restrained" in a safety belt, Cook said.

He ruled the death an accident Sunday. The coroner's office will not perform an autopsy, he said.

Related Links:

- St. Vincents Hospital
- Tzu-Chi Foundation, Tzu-Chi Youth Buddhist Compassion Relief Organization at Ohio State University