On Monday night, June 15, at the Wayne County Speedway, three individuals were injured in the infield of the race track as a sprint car struck them during the “Ohio Sprint Speed Week.”
Two suffered critical injuries and one sustained non life-threatening injuries.
“To clarify, the individuals injured were located in the infield and were not spectators seated in the grandstands or spectator viewing areas,” the Wayne County Speedway said in a statement Tuesday, June 16, on their Facebook page. “The safety of our fans, competitors, staff and officials remains our highest priority. We will continue to review the incident and gather information as it becomes available. Out of respect for the injured and their families, we will not releasing any additional information regarding medical conditions or identities.”
Wayne County Sheriff’s Office Captain Paul Brumme added some more details on Monday’s accident.
“About 9:24 p.m. on Monday night, our officers received a call from service on the Speedway race track that there was an injury-accident that occurred,” Brumme said. “Further information was that there were three bystanders that were struck by one of the sprint cars in the infield. Upon our deputies’ arrival and assessing the scene as to what was going on, it was found that the three bystanders were photographers for the event in the infield.
“Everybody’s attention diverted to an accident or crash that occurred on the race track with the sprint cars. Everybody’s attention was focused on that area. As a result of that crash, it appears that another sprint car came off the track into the infield. Unbeknownst to the photographer and others at the time because they were focused on the accident that they were looking at, so from behind and to the side, this other sprint car was unable to turn and/or stop and struck these three photographers causing serious injuries in two of them. All of them were transported, one by squad and one by MedLight. From my understanding, they did need surgery for their injuries. Their status is unknown at this time.”
Brumme said the Wayne County Sheriff’s department did an investigation and spoke with parties involved and documented that “it doesn’t seem to be anything other than an accident.”
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: More details provided on Monday’s Wayne County Speedway accident
Reporting by James Simpson II, Wooster Daily Record / The Daily Record
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By James Simpson II, Wooster Daily Record | USA TODAY Network
