CLEVELAND — Authorities responded shortly after midnight Friday to a crash after a driver, who was heading eastbound on St. Clair Avenue just before Martin Luther King Drive, lost control, jumped the sidewalk, hit a pedestrian and was ejected from the vehicle, according to a Cleveland officer on scene and a witness.
The driver of the green SUV was traveling eastbound on St. Clair Avenue when the vehicle went left of the center line near Asel road, and at some point, struck a pedestrian, police said.
The SUV continued into a wooded area along St. Clair Avenue, before flipping over. Eventually, the SUV landed in the woods along Martin Luther King Drive in the Cultural Gardens. The driver was found on the ground on the east side of Martin Luther King Drive in the northbound lanes.
Authorities on scene said he was found about 75 feet away from his vehicle and they believe he was ejected and thrown through the air, where he eventually landed in northbound lanes of Martin Luther King Drive, police and a witness said on scene.
St. Clair Avenue and Martin Luther King Driver were closed in both directions as Cleveland police did an accident reconstruction.
In the map below, the star is where the pedestrian was struck. The end of the line at the arrow is the car in the woods and the red circle was the driver found on Martin Luther King Drive.
Authorities spent about 15 minutes making sure there were no other victims as a result of the crash.
According to Cleveland police, one male died from his injuries. A female was transported in serious condition and another male was also transported in serious condition to the hospital.
We are working to gather more details, including the cause of the crash.
