Lebanon woman faces 24 charges including attempted murder after 5-car pileup

Credit: WARREN COUNTY JAIL

Credit: WARREN COUNTY JAIL

A Lebanon woman has been indicted on 12 counts each of attempted murder and felonious assault in connection with a five-car crash on Sept. 24 on Columbus Avenue in Lebanon.

Mary Jo Klawitter, 63, “intentionally drove her vehicle into the back of another vehicle while traveling at a high rate of speed, causing a multiple vehicle pileup with damage and injuries to numerous individuals and vehicles,” according to a description included with the list of charges issued by a Warren County grand jury.

Klawitter is accused of intentionally crashing into four other vehicles on the road while in “mental distress,” Sgt. Tom Bloomberg of the Ohio Highway Patrol said after the crash.

RELATED: Warren County woman accused of intentionally causing five-car crash

Two other drivers were treated after the crash, which was reported at 8:22 p.m. on southbound Columbus Avenue, two-tenths of a mile south of Monroe Road, according to the highway patrol.

The crashes, as the cars waited at a stop light, resulted in injuries to 12 people, Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell said.

Data from the “black box” retrieved from Klawitter’s vehicle indicates she was accelerating and traveling at more than 80 mph at the time of the collision, Fornshell added.

Klawitter is scheduled for arraignment on Wednesday in Warren County Common Pleas Court.

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