Truck crash causes structure fire; driver killed
A Superior Erection Co. facility
on Brecksville Road was extensively damaged early in
the morning of July 31 when a truck crashed into its
southwest corner.
The charred remains of a truck
cab that crashed into a Richfield business July 31 is
towed away from the scene. The driver of the truck died
in the crash. Photos:
Ken Crisafi
By Stephanie Kist
RICHFIELD — A Newcomerstown man was found dead after the truck cab he was driving crashed into a building early in the morning of July 31.
The Summit County Medical Examiner’s
Office (SCMEO) has tentatively identified
the driver as 48-year-old Randy St. John. Official information
is pending positive identification. An autopsy was scheduled
for Aug. 1.
According to Richfield Police Department Lt. Joe Davis, the man was driving southbound on Brecksville Road when the truck cab swerved across the northbound lane, through the property of a Richfield service department annex, through a fence and into the southwest corner of Superior Erection Co., 3901 Brecksville Road, which caught fire.
The Richfield Fire Department was called to the scene at 1:52 a.m. and, arriving four minutes later, found the building already engulfed in flames.
“The heat was intense,” Davis said, adding the building at the steel fabricating plant “melted like butter.” The fire likely was worsened by the natural gas connection being in the same corner where the truck crashed into the building, Davis said.
The driver’s badly burned body was found inside the building by a search and rescue team at about 9:35 a.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:12 a.m. by the SCMEO. Davis theorized that St. John was able to get out of the truck but couldn’t escape the burning building and succumbed to the smoke.
Davis said there was extensive damage to Superior’s trucks and equipment and estimated the building might be a total loss. Business representatives declined to comment.
No one was at the business at the time of the crash, and there were no other injuries, Davis said. Fire departments from Richfield, Bath, Brecksville and the Valley Fire District responded. A cadaver dog from Cleveland also was brought on scene.
According to Davis, the driver was the fourth in a five-truck convoy headed from Des Moines, Iowa, to Marks Truck Sales Inc. on Brecksville Road. According to Davis, the trucks exited the Ohio Turnpike together, but the fifth truck was delayed at the turnstile.
Brecksville Road, which also is state Route 21, was closed until about 7 a.m. July 31.
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