A Saturday afternoon ride turned tragic for a Massillon couple when their motorcycle and a minivan collided at a rural Holmes County intersection, leaving both husband and wife dead.
The crash happened around 3:33 p.m. on June 13 at the crossroads of State Route 226 and County Road 51 in Ripley Township, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol. The motorcycle driver, 54-year-old Mark C. Sweany, was pronounced dead at the scene. His passenger and wife, 52-year-old Michelle M. Sweany, was airlifted to Summa Health in Akron in critical condition and later died, Jordan Miller News reported.
Investigators say the two-vehicle crash involved a gray 2015 Chrysler Town & Country and a 2024 Harley-Davidson traveling through the quiet farming area, a part of the county where open fields meet narrow blacktop and blind intersections can turn unforgiving in a heartbeat.
How troopers say the crash unfolded
Preliminary findings from the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Wooster post indicate the minivan, driven by 18-year-old Amara J. Higgs of Norton, was headed from County Road 149 and pulled into the intersection, failing to yield at a stop sign before entering SR 226, according to Ashland County Pictures…