GALLIPOLIS, OHIO (AP) -- The investigation of a crash that killed three people, including two State Highway Patrol officers, has been difficult because of a lack of witnesses and the fire that destroyed the two vehicles involved, authorities said. The crash Thursday left the troopers' patrol car and a pickup driven by a Vinton woman charred and mangled. The patrol didn't release details about how the crash happened.
A man who made an emergency call to authorities from the scene said he couldn't get close enough to help the victims, at least one of whom he said was trapped in the flames. Firefighters arrived to find the two vehicles on fire at the side of the road and the victims inside, Gallipolis Fire Chief Robert Poling said. "It looked like a bonfire sitting there," he said.
The wreck happened around 6 a.m. on a county road in Green Township just north of Gallipolis, along the Ohio River about 105 miles southeast of Columbus. Sgt. Dale Holcomb, 45, and trooper Joshua Risner, 29, who both worked at the Gallipolis post, and Lori Smith, 32, were killed, the patrol said. Investigators don't know yet if the officers were responding to a call. A witness reported hearing a siren just before the crash.
According to a Highway Patrol news release, Sgt. Dale R. Holcomb was a 21-year Patrol veteran who joined the Patrol as a cadet dispatcher assigned to Lancaster in April 1985. He entered the Patrol Academy later that year as a member of the 115th Academy class, and earned his commission in March 1986.
The Patrol says Holcomb's first assignment was at Athens, where he earned post and district trooper of the year honors in 1990. He transferred to Gallipolis with his May 1992 promotion to sergeant.
Sgt. Holcomb earned a bachelor's degree in criminology from Ohio University. He is survived by his wife, Connie, and children Tyler, 17, and Trent, 15.
Bud and Helen Taylor, Holcomb's in-laws, said he enjoyed the outdoors and recently had gone on a camping trip with them, his wife and two sons. "Those boys of his could not have had a better dad," his father-in-law told The Columbus Dispatch.
According to the same Highway Patrol news release, Tpr. Joshua P. Risner, a seven-year Patrol veteran, entered Academy training in June 1999 as a member of the 134th Academy Class. He graduated that June and was assigned to Van Wert. He transferred to Gallipolis in June 2001.
He is survived by his wife Bridget, and children Joshua, 7, and Paige, 5. His father, John Risner, is a retired trooper who worked at the Jackson Patrol Post, and is currently working as a motor vehicle inspector for the Patrol.
The Patrol says a total of 37 Ohio State Highway Patrol sworn officers have been killed in the line of duty since the Patrol's inception in 1933. The most recent before today was Tpr. Frank Vazquez, who was killed in a crash on Interstate 270 on November 6, 2001.
Lori Smith was driving her boyfriend's truck, said her mother, Diana Swisher. The boyfriend called Swisher on Thursday, saying a friend had just seen a truck that looked like his in a fiery crash. Swisher tried to reach her daughter by phone, but got no answer. "I knew in my heart, a gut feeling," Swisher said through tears.
Smith worked cleaning houses, and her mother said it was apt that she called her business Helping Hands. "She was just a very loving person. She was always the first to lend a hand if a friend needed a hand," Swisher said.
On the Web:
Ohio State Highway Patrol: www.statepatrol.ohio.gov/
Posted by AEB
