Local teens celebrated with ‘Saved by the Belt’ award

SOUTHINGTON, Ohio (WKBN) — The Ohio State Highway Patrol is celebrating the lives of two Trumbull County teenagers who survived a crash because they wore their seat belts.

Joshua Bentley and his friend Jake Johns were both presented with the patrol’s “Saved by the Belt” award Monday afternoon.

Troopers say Bentley was diving Johns home from a football game on Aug. 23 when he lost control of the truck in a curve on Amy Boyle Road in Brookfield. The truck went off the road, overturned in a ditch and caught fire.

The 16-year-old boys had their seat belts on and were able to get out of the truck safely.

“If they wouldn’t have been wearing it that day, there’s no doubt that they would have been seriously injured or killed in that crash,” said OSHP Warren Post Commander Lt. Daniel Morrison.

Lt. Morrison stresses the importance of wearing a seat belt. He says of the 15 people killed in crashes in Trumbull County this year, more than half weren’t wearing a safety belt.

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