FRANKLIN TWP — A 40-year-old township man was driving recklessly moments leading up to a three-vehicle crash Monday afternoon on Route 422 that left him and a Clarion County woman dead, according to authorities.

State police said Ronald J. Tokarchik was “driving erratically” and speeding about 12:15 p.m. when his 1994 Jeep Cherokee crossed into opposing traffic.

The Jeep sideswiped a tractor-tractor before slamming head-on into a 2011 Subaru Outback driven by Mary Lou Berry, 52, of Clarion.

Tokarchik and Berry died instantly in the collision, said Butler County Deputy Coroner Larry Barr.

“It was pretty bad,” Barr said of the aftermath.

Both drivers died of severe injuries to the head and body. No autopsies were done.

Investigators do not know why Tokarchik, considered the at-fault driver, was in such a hurry. Standard toxicology testing is pending, but Barr said there were no indications that drugs or alcohol were factors in the crash.

The Jeep’s exact or approximate speed was not known.

Police said Tokarchik’s westbound vehicle crossed into the eastbound lane on Route 422, near Route 488, and hit the driver’s side of the tractor-trailer driven by Douglas R. Clawson, 53, of Homer City, Indiana County. Clawson was not injured.

The Jeep also hit the trailer’s rear driver side tires while continuing west in the wrong lane, eventually hitting Berry’s eastbound sport utility vehicle.

Both SUVs came to a stop just east of the Atrium while the rig traveled about a quarter mile farther east.

The Jeep was near the center of the road. The Outback was in the westbound lane, facing the wrong direction.

Broken pieces of plastic from the vehicles and a headlight were strewn across the highway.

There was a scorch mark as though something might have ignited between the two vehicles. And the white vehicle appeared to have a white powder on it.

About a half-dozen troopers were on scene. Most were measuring and taking notes. One trooper took photographs.

A Butler Ambulance Service crew was there as well as a contingent with the Unionville Volunteer Fire Department.

Firefighters had to cut the roof off the Outback to reach Berry’s body. It took at least a half-hour.

Barr pronounced both victims dead about 1:20 p.m.

Clawson’s truck was missing at least one tire, which was still lying on the road as a trooper interviewed him.

An employee at the Atrium said employees there could see the wreckage and the traffic backup that followed the crash.

The employee said drivers were rerouted on Old Route 422 and some on Route 488 and said there were many stopped cars. She said she heard cars were backed up all the way to North Road — some 2 miles away.

Stephanie Rice, an employee at the Trader Horn store less than a half mile from the crash, said people at the store, too, also could see the traffic.

“There were a whole lot backed up,” Rice said.

As of about 3:15 p.m., she said the traffic had settled down, but she said there still were vehicles backed up.

At Case’s Beer Distributing, east of Trader Horn, employees noted traffic was backed up from about 1 to 3 p.m. About 3:30 p.m., traffic apparently was moving more quickly.

The Edward L. Raisley Funeral Home in Prospect is handling funeral services for Tokarchik. The funeral home handling Berry’s arrangements was not immediately known.