State Highway Patrol investigators believe a medical issue and not a car crash killed a 57-year-old Dundee woman who drove her car across the road and into a guardrail after leaving her driveway Wednesday afternoon.

New Philadelphia Post Commander Lieutenant Johnnie Maier says the accident happened around 2:25 p.m. on state Route 93 in Franklin Township. He says the crash itself was not serious. There was little damage to the car or guardrail, the airbags did not deploy, and the woman was wearing her seatbelt.   

Maier says it is ultimately up to the coroner to determine the official cause of death, but Troopers believe the woman was already experiencing a “medical-related illness of some kind.”

“There’s just nothing to indicate that the crash would have caused any internal or otherwise fatal injuries to the driver.”

He says first responders transported the woman to Cleveland Clinic Union Hospital then Mercy Hospital where she was pronounced deceased.

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