LORAIN — A 5-year-old Huron girl was listed in fair condition Thursday at a Cleveland hospital after the car she was riding in was broadsided by a delivery truck.

The girl’s mother, Leigh Ann Ferguson, 24, of Huron, was driving a 1999 Chevy Prism north on Oak Point Road at 10:45 a.m. morning, said Lorain police Officer Allan Cornwell, a crash reconstructionist with the traffic division.

The girl, Clara Davies, was in the back seat, and Jason Ferguson, 32, of Vermilion, was a front seat passenger. Leigh Ann Ferguson stopped at the stop sign at Oak Point Road and West Erie Avenue, Cornwell said.

“She stopped for the stop sign and then she attempted to make a left turn onto West Erie when her car was struck by the truck,” Cornwell said. “The truck hit the driver’s side rear passenger door where the child was sitting.”

The 2009 truck, owned by Valley Natural Gases in Elyria, was driven by 63-year-old Raymond Rhoades of LaGrange and was heading east on West Erie Avenue. Valley Natural Gases delivers tanks, such as oxygen tanks, to companies and factories, Cornwell said.

Rhoades had the right of way because he did not have a stop sign, Cornwell said. The truck driver was unharmed.

“There was no view obstruction,” he said. “She should have seen the truck. There were no other vehicles that we could see.”

Clara was in a child seat, but it remains unclear whether the Fergusons were wearing seat belts, Cornwell said, adding the relationship between the two also has not been determined.

All three were transported to Community Regional Medical Center, where Jason Ferguson was treated and released, a hospital spokesperson said. Clara and her mother were flown to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland.

“The mother had various injuries,” Cornwell said. “The daughter had upper-body head injuries.”

Leigh Ann Ferguson was discharged from MetroHealth Thursday afternoon, while her daughter remained in the hospital and was listed in fair condition, a nursing supervisor said.
No charges have been filed, Cornwell said, and the accident remains under investigation.

Contact Alicia Castelli at 329-7144 or acastelli@chroniclet.com.

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