Thursday crash on CR 46 claims one, injures two

Updated Fri­day 11:25 a.m. – A Thurs­day after­noon crash at approx. 3:46 p.m. in Mor­row County has claimed the life of a 16-year-old girl and seri­ously injured her two companions.

Accord­ing to the Mt. Gilead Post of the High­way Patrol, Kris­ten Peters, 16, Mt. Gilead, was south­bound on CR 46 just north of SR 19 in a 2007 Chevro­let Cobalt when it trav­eled off the right side of the road and struck a util­ity pole, shear­ing it off and over­turn­ing the vehi­cle. Miss Peters was trans­ported to Mor­row County Hos­pi­tal where she died of her injuries.

Her com­pan­ions Kylie Hipp, 15, and James Welshans, 16, also suf­fered seri­ous injuries and were taken to the Mor­row County Hos­pi­tal, where they were trans­ported to Grant Med­ical Cen­ter. Welshans, who was ejected from the vehi­cle, was listed in sta­ble con­di­tion Fri­day morn­ing. The Mt. Gilead Post said Miss Hipp was listed in stable/critical con­di­tion Thurs­day evening.

Alco­hol does not appear to be a fac­tor in this acci­dent, which remains under inves­ti­ga­tion by the High­way Patrol.