A 25-year-old Columbus woman has died from injuries she suffered early Saturday when her car was hit from behind by a tractor-trailer on Interstate 71 at Polaris Parkway, Columbus police announced. Mackenzie McGee was taken to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center in critical condition after the November 7 crash and died at about 10:45 p.m. on Monday, November 9, according to a Columbus Division of Police news release reported Tuesday.

Source: Columbus Division of Police news release, via Heritage Headlines

The crash happened at about 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, November 7, on the Far North Side of Columbus, in Franklin County. Police said McGee was driving a 2020 Honda Civic northbound on I-71 near Polaris Parkway when she slowed or stopped and then tried to change lanes, moving into the path of a tractor-trailer that was also travelling northbound in the next lane.

What police say happened on I-71

According to the police account, the tractor-trailer struck the rear of the Honda Civic. The impact pushed McGee's car off the right side of the road, while the tractor-trailer pulled over onto the shoulder. Medics transported McGee to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, the region's main trauma centre in downtown Columbus, where she remained in critical condition through the weekend before dying Monday night. The driver of the tractor-trailer was not injured, police said.

Source: WSYX Columbus, via Zest

Police have not said why McGee slowed or stopped in the travel lane, or why she then attempted the lane change. No mechanical failure, medical emergency or other explanation has been announced, and investigators have not said whether speed, impairment or distraction played any role for either driver. Those questions remain open, and no finding of fault has been published.

The investigation

The Columbus police Accident Investigation Unit is investigating the crash. As in other fatal Columbus freeway cases, investigators will reconstruct the sequence from vehicle damage, roadway evidence and any available camera or witness accounts before deciding whether any charges or citations are warranted. Police have announced no charges in connection with the crash so far.

A busy, high-speed corridor

Polaris Parkway is one of the busiest interchanges on Columbus's Far North Side, serving the Polaris retail and office district where I-71 carries a heavy mix of commuter traffic and through freight between downtown Columbus and points north toward Cleveland. In the early-morning hours the corridor is dominated by long-haul trucks, including many driven by Punjabi and other South Asian truckers working overnight schedules — the hours when a slowed or stopped car in a travel lane leaves following drivers the least time to react.

What happens next

The investigation continues, and Columbus police are expected to release further findings once the Accident Investigation Unit completes its work. Any decision on charges will follow that report. For now, the case stands as a fatal rear-end collision between a passenger car and a tractor-trailer in the pre-dawn hours — and a reminder, for every driver on I-71, of how quickly a routine overnight drive can turn deadly when a vehicle slows unexpectedly in a live lane.