Elderly Man Escapes Serious Injury in French Creek Crash

Updated at 4:48 p.m. Sept. 7:

An 81-year-old Avon man was treated and released after being taken by helicopter to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland on Tuesday morning following a single-car crash on French Creek Road.

Charles Purks was heading east on French Creek Road near Moon Road around 8:44 a.m. when he lost control of his car going into a curve,  reported. The car went off the road, flipped and wound up upside-down in a drainage ditch. There was about six inches of water in the ditch.

Firefighters and police from and Sheffield Village worked to extract the man from the car. He had a bad cut on his head, and was a bit dazed but conscious when he was freed. He was taken by ambulance to , and then taken by LifeFlight to MetroHealth. He was not admitted, but treated in the emergency room and released, the hospital reported.