A quiet Thursday morning in Hopewell Township turned into an absolute nightmare for a local family and the tight-knit community of Glenford. An 83-year-old local man, Thomas Shafer, lost his life in a violent two-truck collision that has left everyone who knew him completely devastated. The sudden tragedy has cast a heavy shadow over the entire area as folks try to process the loss of a truly meaningful soul.
It all went down around 11:30 a.m. at the crossing of State Route 204 and State Route 668. Shafer was driving his Ford F-150 pickup truck northeast on Route 204, just running ordinary errands like any other day. He wasn’t alone either; a young juvenile passenger was riding shotgun right beside him in the front seat.
Everything changed in a split second when another truck entered the picture. Authorities say a Ford E-350 commercial truck, driven by 30-year-old Brandon Salyers from Gahanna, was heading south down Route 668. According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Lancaster Post, Salyers failed to yield the right-of-way as he pulled into the intersection, slamming directly into Shafer’s pickup.
The impact was incredibly violent, forcing both heavy vehicles completely off the asphalt. Salyers’ massive E-350 careened wildly off the left side of the road, hitting a culvert and a ditch before smashing hard into a nearby building. Meanwhile, Shafer’s F-150 got thrown off the right side of the pavement, tearing through the grass before crashing into a traffic sign.
First responders rushed to the scene as fast as they could, but there was nothing they could do to save the elderly driver. Thomas Shafer was pronounced dead right there at the intersection. Thankfully, the young child riding with him miraculously escaped the worst of it, walking away with only minor injuries before being taken to Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
As for the other driver, Salyers didn’t walk away clean either. Emergency crews had to transport the Gahanna resident straight to Grant Medical Center, where doctors are treating him for serious injuries sustained during the wreckage. The intersection remained a chaotic scene for hours as multiple law enforcement agencies stepped in to help map out exactly how things went so wrong.
Now, the folks down in Glenford are left holding onto the pieces of a broken heart. Thomas was the kind of guy whose presence filled a room, and his deep roots in the community mean his absence will be felt for a long, long time. As his family and friends gather to share stories and comfort each other, they are doing their best to focus on the beautiful memories he left behind rather than the horrific way he was taken.
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