Separate crashes claimed the lives of two area residents over the weekend - a 24-year-old Avis man and a 21-year-old Lewisburg man, state police said.
Union County Coroner Wanda Walters pronounced Rodney E. Merrifield Jr., of Avis, dead at the scene of a Saturday night crash that injured five other people at the intersection of Route 45 at Johnson Mill Road, near Lewisburg, in Buffalo Township, Union County.
Prior to the 11:15 p.m. crash, Merrifield had pulled his Subaru Forester off to the south berm of Route 45, across from its intersection with Johnson Mill Road.
Meanwhile, Ross A. Jarrett, 67, of Mifflinburg, was traveling east, along with four passengers in his Toyota Tundra, along Route 45, heading toward where Merrifield had parked.
The collision occurred as Merrifield attempted to turn left, possibly to travel onto Johnson Mill Road. Jarrett's vehicle traveled head-on into Merrifield's driver's side door, according to reports.
Merrifield's Subaru came to rest facing east in the westbound lane, while Jarrett's pickup truck crossed the westbound lane and stopped in a grassy field near the roadside, according to police.
Merrifield's passenger, Michael P. Bowes, 24, of Jersey Shore, suffered moderate injuries. He has since been treated and released from Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, according to officials there.
Neither driver was wearing a seat belt, according to police.
Jarrett suffered minor injuries. He was treated and released from Geisinger Medical Center.
Two of his passengers, Qaisha Jacobs Naveaz, 31, and Deja Jacobs, 18, both of Lewisburg, suffered moderate injuries.
Jacobs was treated and released from Geisinger. No information was available regarding Naveaz's condition on Sunday evening.
The other two passengers traveling with Jarrett were unidentified juveniles. A 10-year-old suffered minor injuries and the other, a 1-year-old, was unharmed.
In an unrelated incident, 21-year-old Jacob Parkes, of Lewisburg, died in a one-vehicle crash at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday in Union County, near Allenwood.
Parkes was driving a Jeep Wrangler south on Route 15, just north of Clyde Peeling's Reptiland, when he failed to negotiate a lefthand curve. His vehicle traveled off the right side of the road, up an embankment and continued parallel to the road before hitting a metal traffic light pole on the driver's side door. It continued about 200 feet and struck another utility pole before stopping.
Parkes was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:10 a.m. by Union County Coroner Wendy Walters.
His passenger, Andrew Renner, 22, of Winfield, suffered moderate injuries and was in serious condition Sunday evening at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, according to officials there.
A section of Route 15 was closed until about noon on Sunday, while PP&L Electric Utilities workers fixed a utility pole that was damaged during the crash.
