An Upper Arlington woman drove a carjacked vehicle several minutes the wrong way on State Route 315, narrowly avoiding multiple crashes before a fatal head-on collision, according to video footage from the Ohio Department of Transportation.
Xiaoke Fan, 30, has been charged by Columbus police with aggravated vehicular homicide, aggravated vehicular assault, and aggravated robbery in the May 4 crash, which killed 30-year-old Kaitlyn Spahr, an assistant prosecutor for the Columbus City Attorney’s Office and seriously injuring Soogie Choi, an environmental attorney at the City Attorney’s Office.
Spahr, Choi, and Fan were all transported to the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in critical condition following the 10:11 p.m. crash. Spahr was pronounced dead there at 10:51 p.m., according to police.
Columbus police Sgt. Joe Albert, a spokesman for the division, said on May 6 that both Fan and Choi were expected to survive their injuries.
According to Franklin County Municipal Court documents, the owner of the stolen 2018 Mercedes-Benz told police that she picked up Fan at East North Broadway and North High streets after Fan asked the woman for help and said she needed police.
The vehicle’s owner told police she knew officers were at OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital, so she drove Fan there, according to court documents. At the hospital, records state, the victim reported that Fan took a large rock out of her pocket and threatened to hit the vehicle’s owner with it and kill her.
The woman owner got out of her 2018 Mercedes-Benz, and police said in the affidavit that Fan drove off, entering State Route 315 the wrong way. At around 10:11 p.m., she crashed head-on into another 2018 Mercedes Benz driven by Choi with Spahr as a passenger.
ODOT footage shows Fan narrowly avoiding multiple vehicles before fatal, head-on crash
At around 10:04 p.m., Fan is seen on ODOT highway camera video entering State Route 315 northbound the wrong way, traveling south on the Ackerman Road exit ramp. As she enters the highway, she narrowly misses a vehicle exiting SR 315 and at least two vehicles traveling north whose drivers take evasive action.
Fan darts over to the far left northbound lane and shoulder and continues southbound, the video shows. A few moments later, a car traveling in the left lane swerves to the right side of the roadway at the last moment to avoid hitting Fan, the video shows
Fan continues driving south on the northbound shoulder of SR 315 for several minutes. At 10:06 p.m., Fan is seen continuing southbound on the northbound median shoulder near Lane Avenue as an ODOT work crew with a large yellow arrow sign directs traffic from the right two northbound lanes into a single lane in the far left northbound passing lane.
Fan continues driving south on the northbound shoulder, passing vehicles moving over for the work crew, and traveling to King Avenue.
The remaining footage provided by ODOT does not show the fatal crash itself. According to Columbus police, Fan drove around 3 miles in the wrong direction before the collision.
The video footage can be viewed on Dispatch.com.
Anyone with information about the crash may contact the Columbus police Accident Investigation Unit at 614-645-4767 or provide an anonymous tip to the Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-4777.
Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at smeighan@dispatch.com, at ShahidMeighan on X, and at shahidthereporter.dispatch.com on Bluesky
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Woman drove for several miles before causing wrong-way crash, video shows
Reporting by Shahid Meighan, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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