COAL TOWNSHIP - Two people were injured in separate crashes Friday in Coal Township.
According to Cpl. Terry Ketchem, Theodore Bransford III, 26, of Shamokin, suffered moderate injuries about 3:30 p.m. when he crashed a 2001 Ford sedan into a tree along Route 2026 near Hickory Ridge Road, about two miles east of Coal Run. He lost control and struck the tree head-on.
Bransford was taken by AREA Services Ambulance to Geisinger-Shamokin Area Community Hospital. He was cited for violating the traffic code, driving vehicle at safe speed. The vehicle was towed.
Assisting were Mount Carmel Township and Kulpmont police, along with fire units from Natalie and Kulpmont.
Faith Smink, of Coal Township, a passenger in a 2001 Ford truck, was taken by AREA Services Ambulance to Geisinger-Shamokin Area Community Hospital following a crash about 5:30 p.m. at Ranshaw.
Ketchem said Edward Flowers, of Selinsgrove, pulled the truck from the Route 61 off-ramp onto Route 901 and into the oncoming path of a 2011 GMC Acadia driven by Frank Burgess Jr., of Shamokin. Both vehicles sustained moderate damages. Smink was a passenger in Flowers' vehicle. Flowers was cited for a stop sign violation.
Assisting were Kulpmont and Shamokin police, Brady Fire Company and township fire chiefs Russell Feese, Michael Timco and Kevin Malukas.
The Ranshaw crash was one of at least four that occurred in Northumberland County between 5:28 and 5:59 p.m. during an early evening snowfall. Other crashes occurred along Route 890 and Houser Road near Augustaville, Route 61 and Holly Road near Stonington, and along the S-turn on Route 901 near Locust Gap.