CLEVELAND — The Ohio State Highway Patrol is investigating after two fatal crashes took place on the Ohio Turnpike in Erie County within an hour of each other Sunday morning — with the second accident coming during traffic backup from the first.

At 6:41 a.m., an eastbound International 4300 box truck driven by a 31-year-old Indiana man drove off the roadway and hit a tow truck that was stopped on the shoulder with emergency lights flashing, troopers said in a press release. A passenger in the International truck, 32-year-old Dantrail Reese of Indianapolis, was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver was transported to a Lorain hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The driver of the parked tow truck was outside the vehicle at the time of the crash and was not injured.

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