A 26-year-old Akron woman died late Saturday night when her car jumped the median on Interstate 480 in Brooklyn Heights and collided with an incoming SUV carrying three people from Illinois. According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Kreigh Grapel-Barnette was driving a 2007 Toyota Yaris eastbound near mile post 19 when she veered off the left side of the road into westbound traffic. She was wearing a seatbelt but was pronounced dead at MetroHealth following the crash.
The crash was reported around 11:27 p.m. on Saturday, according to Cleveland 19 News. According to troopers, Grapel-Barnette’s Yaris collided with a 2026 Subaru Outlander driven by James Mieczkowski, 56, of Oak Park, Illinois. His passengers included Brenda Massaroni, 64, and Alison Mieczkowski, 23, all of Oak Park. Troopers said all three were wearing seatbelts and were taken to MetroHealth with minor injuries.
The eastbound Toyota crossing into the westbound lanes means that investigators will still need to figure out what caused Grapel-Barnette to leave her lane in the first place. Ohio law mandates drivers to stay on the right half of the road.
The accident occurred on a section of I-480 that state officials had designated as unsafe just two months prior. According to the Ohio Department of Transportation, on July 31, the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Ohio Department of Transportation relocated a regional traffic safety corridor to a 14-mile section of I-480 in Cuyahoga County, following nearly 800 crashes and nine fatalities on the roadway in the previous two years. The Brooklyn Heights portion is near to the Valley View Bridge.
Cuyahoga County has also released worrisome statistics on distracted driving and seatbelt use, though nothing in the investigation so far links either element directly to this tragedy. The county led all Ohio counties in distracted driving crashes between 2021 and 2025, with 4,373 incidents, according to an OSHP Traffic Safety Bulletin referenced by the Ohio Department of Public Safety. Cuyahoga County has led the state in combined unbelted fatal and serious injuries since 2019, yet in this incident, all people in both vehicles were allegedly fastened in.
According to the OSHP, I-480 westbound was stopped for two and a half hours following the incident, with traffic being redirected to I-77 south as crews handled the site. Newburgh Heights EMS, Brooklyn Heights Fire and EMS, and police agencies from Brooklyn Heights, Valley View, Garfield Heights, Cuyahoga Heights, and Independence all responded to the scene, along with Kufner Towing and the Ohio Department of Transportation. The Ohio State Highway Patrol continues to investigate the crash.
In recent months, there have been a number of serious incidents along the route. In August, Hoodline reported on a rollover that left five people hospitalized in the same safety corridor.
According to Kisling, Nestico, and Redick’s analysis of the state’s OSTATS dashboard, Cuyahoga County had 24,001 total motor vehicle crashes in 2025, with 75 fatalities and 636 serious injuries. The summer period between Memorial Day and Labor Day accounts for around one-third of all traffic deaths in Ohio. Saturday’s crash, which occurred just weeks after that window closed, adds to the year of testing for the newly designated safety corridor that runs through Brooklyn Heights.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol’s investigation into what prompted Grapel-Barnette’s vehicle to cross the median is ongoing.
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