FREMONT, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio motorist traveling at more than125 mph was charged Friday with
vehicular homicide after his car strucka minivan, killing a couple inside, the State Highway Patrol
said.AndrewD. Gans, of Kent, faces two counts of vehicular homicide with areckless specification after
Thursday night’s crash on the OhioTurnpike, where both vehicles burst into flames.The victims,Wilbur and
Margaret McCoy, both 77, of Toledo, were wearing seatbeltswhen they were hit and were trapped inside of
the minivan, the patrolsaid.Gans, 24, suffered injuries that are not life-threateningand was
hospitalized for psychiatric evaluation at a Toledo hospital,said staff Lt. Anne Ralston, a patrol
spokeswoman.Gans has spokenwith investigators, but Ralston declined to comment on what he said orwhether
he offered any explanation for the erratic driving that wasreported.He will be taken to jail following
his release from thehospital. No court date has been set and the case will go to a grandjury.The patrol
said the incident remains under investigation.Twotroopers separately spotted Gans’ car but weren’t able
to catch or keepup with it before the crash near Fremont, about 40 miles southeast ofToledo, Ralston
said.Other drivers began calling dispatchersabout the speeding, weaving vehicle just before 7 p.m.,
about 20 minutesbefore it crashed into the back of the minivan. The driver coveredroughly 60 miles in
that time and passed two troopers, each of whomtried to pull behind the westbound car but lost sight of
it as it spedaway, Ralston said."Just because it was going so fast, we werenever able to get into a
position where we were actually engaged in apursuit with it," Ralston said. "We were simply
trying to catch up andintercept this vehicle and get it stopped."The speeding vehicle stunned some
holiday travelers who witnessed it.JoshPickett of Toledo told The Toledo Blade that he was headed home
fromThanksgiving dinner with relatives in Cleveland when the speeding driverpassed him, followed about a
minute later by a state police cruiser."I was going 76, and the guy passes me like I was standing
still," Pickett told the newspaper.He said within a few minutes, traffic suddenly stopped "and
I saw really big flames."TyMahaffey told The Blade a car zoomed by him "at an enormously high
rateof speed. … I have never seen a passenger car going so fast."TheToledo resident said he was
going around 80 mph "and when he passed me,it was like I was going in reverse." He said
afterward he had to pullover briefly to collect himself.The turnpike’s westbound lanes were closed for
several hours but reopened early Friday.Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rightsreserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten orredistributed.