Jeep Loses Control at Portsmouth, Ohio RR Crossing
At approximately 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Portsmouth, Ohio Police received a call initially stating that a vehicle had been struck by a train. Upon arrival, an officer immediately noticed a Jeep embedded in the wall of the old Mitchell Lace building.
The driver, later identified as Ryan Andre, was quickly removed from the scene by Portsmouth Ohio Fire and Emergency workers.
According to initial reports, it appears Mr. Andre hit the gate at the railroad crossing, and lost control of his vehicle, which then slammed into the building.
In very critical condition, Andre was airlifted to the Cabell Huntington Hospital.
A statement was released on social media by SOCF.
“With permission from Ryan Andre’s family here is a update from his Step Sister Ashley: He made it through surgery. It took a long time. We didn’t get home until like 4. His brain had lots of swelling and brain bleeds. Between scans in got bad. They took him for emergency surgery. They let family see him before they did. They prayed over his body.”
“The neurosurgeon warned us that he could not make it through the surgery. He did. The next 4 days are scary. The brain could do all sorts of things. Swell more, bleed more. He is in very bad shape. They have no clue about brain damage. There is so much swelling. There are so many things. He needs flown to Columbus, but he wouldn’t have made it yesterday. They don’t have certain things that he needs at Cabell but he wouldn’t have made it, if they went to Columbus like originally planned.”
As of this writing, Andre remains in critical condition but has now been flown to a Columbus area hospital.