Man dies from injuries days after utility vehicle crash near Wapakoneta

PUSHETA TWP., Auglaize County — A Wapakoneta man died from his injuries in an Ohio hospital days after he was hurt in a crash involving a utility vehicle in Auglaize County.

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Michael Converse, 42, died Tuesday in a Lima hospital, four days after the crash happened, a spokesperson for the Ohio State Highway Patrol said in a media release Wednesday.

Converse was a passenger in a Polaris utility vehicle which crashed into a ditch and overturned on Pusheta Road west of Wapakoneta Friday morning, state troopers said.

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Converse and the driver, identified as James Benshoff, 45, of Wapakoneta, were both transported to the Lima hospital after the crash. Benshoff suffered life-threatening injuries in the crash and remains hospitalized Wednesday, according to state troopers.

An initial investigation found the UTV was traveling west on Pusheta Road near Freyburg Road when it went off the side of road, crashed into a ditch, and overturned. Both Benshoff and Converse were thrown from the UTV during the crash.

Potential factors in the crash were not immediately released and were still under investigation.

Additional details were not available and the crash remains under investigation by the Wapakoneta Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

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