LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - The drummer for country music star Kellie
Pickler was in serious condition Sunday as one of five people
hospitalized in two crashes that happened within minutes at the same
spot on Interstate 65 in central Kentucky and killed six.
Pickler's manager, Larry Fitzgerald, said
36-year-old Gregg Lohman of Goodlettsville, Tenn., suffered serious
injuries in the wreck Saturday. He remained in serious condition Sunday
at University of Louisville Hospital.
Kentucky State Police Master Trooper Norm Chaffins
said Lohman, who also works as a music instructor at Tennessee State
University, had head and neck injuries after a four-vehicle wreck in the
southbound lanes. It happened about 15 minutes after a fiery crash
involving a tractor-trailer and an SUV on the northbound side of the
highway.
On her Facebook page, Pickler said Lohman wasn't just a drummer, "he is family."
"I believe in the miracles and the power of prayer,
so it would mean the world to me, my band and Gregg's family if you
would please keep him in your prayers," Pickler wrote. "Thank y'all so
much."
Six people from rural Wisconsin were killed when
the tractor-trailer rear-ended their Ford Expedition at about 11:13 a.m.
EST Saturday in the northbound lanes near Glendale, Ky.
Killed were 62-year-old driver James Gollnow and
his wife, 62-year-old Barbara Gollnow; 92-year-old friend Marion
Champnise; 18-year-old Sarina Gollnow, relationship unknown; and foster
children 10-year-old Gabriel Zumig and 8-year-old Soledad Smith.
Two other foster children survived and were taken
to area hospitals. Police identified them as Hope Hoth, 15, who was
transported to a hospital in Lexington with burns and a broken spine;
and Aidian Ejnik, 12, who was taken to Kosair Children's Hospital in
Louisville with cuts to the back of his head.
Barb Gollnow of Shawano, Wis., the sister-in-law of
those killed, called the collision "a horrible tragedy," but said
details about her family's trip that led them through the Bluegrass
State would have to come from the surviving children in the family. The
children did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press
left through Gollnow.
State Police said the family was returning to Wisconsin from a vacation to Orlando, Fla.
Chaffins said the tractor-trailer was following too
closely to the SUV to stop before the collision. The Expedition was
"totally engulfed in flames. It was totally destroyed by the fire," he
said, adding, "It's just a charred mess." Distracted driving is among
the causes being investigated.
"That's one of the points we're looking into," Chaffins said. "We haven't pinpointed the exact cause."
Chaffins said despite snow flurries, weather was
not a factor in Saturday's crashes. The driver was identified as
47-year-old Ibrahim Fetic of Troy, Mich. Police were looking at his
driving logs and collected a blood sample.
The National Transportation Safety Board did not
immediately have a comment about whether they were investigating.
Chaffins expects the board to become involved.
The two crashes shut down the busy stretch of highway for about five hours.
Chaffins said police were investigating whether rubbernecking was the cause of the wrecks in the southbound lanes.
In that wreck, the Freightliner driven by
58-year-old Mark Bowser from Lewisburg, Ohio, struck Lohman's vehicle,
then hit a 2005 Saturn SUV driven by 53-year-old Victor Martinka of
Glenview, Ill.
Chaffins said Martinka's vehicle then struck a 2012
Chevrolet SUV driven by Stephanie Yates, 55, of Louisville. Chaffins
said none of the other drivers were hospitalized.
The wreck on Saturday happened just north of where a
tractor-trailer crossed the median and struck a van carrying 11 people
in 2010. In the wake of that crash, the NTSB called for a ban on talking
on cellphones or texting by long-distance truckers.
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