2 New York Girls Identified As Victims In Fatal Ohio Crash

GLENS FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — Authorities have identified two girls from upstate New York as the victims in a fatal crash on an Ohio highway over the weekend.

The Post-Star in Glens Falls, New York, reports (http://bit.ly/2stbOkC ) that the medical examiner's office in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, says 7-year-old Payton Thatcher, of Glens Falls, and 13-year-old Tiarra Couture, of Argyle, were killed in Saturday's early morning crash on the Ohio Turnpike.

The girls were half sisters.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol says the girls' 51-year-old grandmother swerved to avoid a deer, and their vehicle was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer.

The girls' mother was hospitalized in serious condition. Her 9-year-old son was expected to be released from a hospital Monday. The grandmother was treated and released.

The accident occurred in Strongsville, about 15 miles southwest of Cleveland.

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Information from: The Post-Star, http://www.poststar.com