Two Mansfield men fleeing from the alleged theft of a vending machine at Washington Floors on U.S. 42 in Mifflin Township were seriously injured after being involved in a two vehicle accident on U.S. 30 at Laver Road shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday.

The Mansfield Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol says Nick Brown, 45,  and Douglass Ison, 42, both of Mansfield, were taken to Medcentral Mansfield Hospital by the Mifflin Township Emergency Squad. The patrol says Brown was driving a pickup truck South on Laver Road at the U.S. 30 westbound ramp when he failed to negotiate a curve and traveled across both lanes of U.S. 30 westbound, crossing the median area and striking an eastbound semi.

The semi driver, Jeffery Swift, 51,  of Edinboro, Pennsylvania, was not injured. The accident remains under investigation.