Trucker in fatal I-75 N crash has traffic convictions
MORAINE, OHIO —
One person was killed, as many as three others were injured, and a dump truck driver is in custody following a five vehicle rear-end, chain-reaction accident on I-75 North in Moraine on Wednesday afternoon:
Dead is Perry Kreider, 66, of Englewood
Truck driver Jeffrey Evans, of Dayton, is in jail
Police: Witnesses saw him run from scene
Next: Police to present case to sheriff’s office
UPDATE @ 7:05 p.m. (July 28): Jeffrey Evans, 52, of Dayton, has been convicted on misdemeanor charges at least five times involving his driver’s license and has had several other traffic offenses filed against him in the past eight years, according to Dayton Municipal Court records.
The court records show Evans has pleaded guilty five times since 2008 to charges involving his license — including driving without one and driving under suspension.
The dump truck he was driving belongs to MNH Trucking, LCC. A person answering the phone today for a Vandalia company with that name declined comment.
Meanwhile, a relative of Perry Kreider, the 66-year-old Englewood resident killed in the accident, said, “We are grieving, we are in shock. We just don’t want to see Jeffrey Evans get back out on the street. We just want to see justice done, and done right, without a plea bargain.”
UPDATE @ 12:40 a.m. (July 28): Jeffrey Evans, the dump truck driver accused of running from the scene of the fatal accident, has been booked into the Montgomery County Jail.
He is being detained there pending the filing of these charges: aggravated vehicular homicide, failing to stop after an accident and tampering with evidence.
UPDATE @ 9:56 p.m. (July 27): The fatality in the rear-end, chain-reaction crash on I-75 North is 66-year-old Perry Kreider, of Englewood, Moraine police Sgt. Jason Neubauer said.
Kreider died at the scene of the five-vehicle accident that included a heavy duty commercial dump truck, the sergeant said in a prepared statement.
Two other people injured were taken to area hospitals. Their names, ages and home towns have not been released.
The dump truck driver, 52-year-old Jeffrey Evans, of Dayton, will be taken to the Montgomery County Jail when he is released from a local hospital. Police said his injuries do not appear to be serious.
Several bystanders and witnesses told police they saw the truck try to leave the scene, then saw a man get out and run north along the interstate. Police arrested that man, identified as Evans, on Sandridge Drive moments after he scaled a fence.
Neubauer said the preliminary investigation shows the truck driver was at the very rear of the accident, couldn’t brake in time and triggered the collision. Northbound traffic was directed off the interstate at the Dryden Road exit and at the South Dixie/East Central Avenues exit farther south in West Carrollton.
Several motorists drove on the shoulder of the interstate or in the grass just off the shoulder in an effort to get out of the stopped northbound traffic.
I-75 North and South in the downtown Dayton area are frequently slowed by heavy traffic daily between 3 and 6 p.m.
The accident, which occurred just before 3 p.m., closed all northbound lanes for roughly 5 1/2 hours for the investigation, cleanup and removal of the vehicles. The accident scene was north of the Dryden Road ramp onto the interstate and a little south of the off-ramp to Edwin C. Moses Boulevard.
Neubauer said the case will be presented to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office for formal charges.