Columbus police investigating fatal wrong-way crash on Route 161 ramp on Northeast Side
Columbus police are investigating after a Newark man was killed early Sunday morning when a wrong-way driver crashed head-on into his vehicle on a ramp to Ohio Route 161 on the city's Northeast Side.
Erickson Francois, 33, of Newark, was driving a 2018 Honda Accord southbound on Interstate 270 around 3:34 a.m. on Sunday when he exited at the Route 161 interchange, according to a Columbus police news release.
Francois was driving on the exit ramp to merge onto eastbound Route 161 when the wrong-way driver of a 2015 BMW X5 traveling westbound entered the ramp and crashed head-on into Francois' car, police reported.
Francois suffered severe injuries and was transported in critical condition was transported to Mount Carmel East Hospital, where he later died at 6:17 a.m., police said.
Columbus police did not identify the wrong-way driver in the news release, nor did they explain why they did not identify the driver or whether that driver was injured in the crash.
The investigation into the wrong-way crash is ongoing is all a Columbus police spokesperson would say Sunday.
@Colebehr_report
Cbehrens@dispatch.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus police are investigating a fatal wrong-way crash early Sunday
