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MINGO JUNCTION -- The 17-year-old driver of a Ford Ranger that went over a guardrail, traveled down an embankment and caught fire early Wednesday morning told police another motorist deliberately rammed the pickup twice before the crash.
Five teenagers, ages 13 to 17, were injured in the crash at the intersection of Logan Avenue and Commerce Street. Three were flown by medical helicopter to a Pittsburgh hospital, where they were reported in stable condition Wednesday evening.
The driver told police Thursday morning that the teens had been "ding-dong-ditching" homes in Steubenville before ending up in Mingo Junction with three boys he said he did not know.
According to the driver’s account, one of the boys attempted to enter a sedan parked near an apartment building. He said the sedan’s owner then "chased (them) throughout the area as they attempted to drive away."
The driver alleged the other vehicle rammed the bed of the Ranger, causing the pickup’s rear window to shatter. He said the vehicle rammed the truck a second time, sending it "off the roadway and over an embankment."
When the pickup caught fire, the driver told police he "believed the two juveniles...in the bed of the truck were dead."
He said he helped a friend and another boy he did not know, who had been riding in the cab, get out of the vehicle. He and his friend then fled the scene on foot.
Police reported the driver’s right leg "was extremely swollen" and that he was holding his ribs. The passenger had "a laceration across his face" that was bleeding.
Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies previously reported that one of the juveniles was found "in the brush injured, below the truck." Another was treated at the scene by Mingo Junction EMS.
Ohio State Highway Patrol had said three of the teens were believed to have been riding in the bed of the truck when it crashed.
Troopers also had been investigating possible connections to reports of someone attempting to break into homes or banging on doors in Steubenville before the crash.
A resident in the 400 block of Spring Avenue reported hearing "a loud vehicle stop in front of her house...(and) a loud noise and then (leave)."
A male resident told police he "heard and observed a dark colored, (vehicle) with a noticeably loud exhaust driving toward South Street, stop in front of a house (and) an individual wearing a black hoodie jumped out, (followed by) a loud bang."
When he went downstairs, the man said he discovered "the door to be kicked open with a shoe print on (it) and part of the door frame kicked off."
OSHP Lt. Robert Bodo previously said an accident reconstruction team from Cambridge was called to determine why the vehicle went over the embankment at such a high rate of speed.
"There wasn't much (left), we couldn't (even) find the license plate on it, it burned up," Bodo said.
Bodo said the call came in at 2:27 a.m. and the vehicle "was traveling at a high rate of speed, we just don't know why."
"We know the city had a couple calls of an incident like that matched the description of vehicle that wrecked," Bodo said. "We've been in contact with the city."
Bodo previously said troopers were investigating whether another vehicle was involved.
The Jefferson County prosecutor’s office is awaiting OSHP’s report.