2 dead in crash of stolen Riverside police cruiser in downtown Dayton - WHIO

Published: Monday, August 26, 2019 @ 7:50 PM
Updated: Monday, August 26, 2019 @ 11:08 PM
By: Breaking News Staff

DAYTON — Two children are confirmed dead and 10 others -- including the suspect -- remained in hospitals after a multiple-vehicle accident Monday night involving a stolen Riverside police SUV.

Here’s the latest:

A man believed to have stabbed a woman in Dayton crashed in Riverside
He jumped into a Riverside police SUV at that accident and sped away
The SUV and two vehicles crashed near the Dayton Metro Library on East Third Street
The man suspected of stealing the SUV was taken to a hospital; He is in custody

>>PHOTOS: From the scene near Dayton library

Content Continues Below

UPDATE @ 11:08 p.m.: Two children are confirmed dead among the 12 people taken to hospitals from the accident near the Dayton Metro Library on East Third Street that involved a stolen Riverside police SUV.

The coroner’s investigator would not say whether the deceased are among the seven children reported in injured in the accident. Dayton police Maj. Eric Henderson, at 11:18 p.m. confirmed the children had been killed. About 40 minutes earlier, in a briefing with reporters, he said three of the seven children injured were in “life-threatening condition.”

Denorris Hopgood was headed to dinner with his children when saw the aftermath of the accident on East Third Street. He said he heard someone scream that children were in a van involved in the multiple-vehicle crash.

“I jumped out and did my best tp get as many children out of the van as I could,” he told News Center 7’s Sean Cudahy. He said it was difficult to see what he witnessed: one child severely injured, another pinned between a door and a seat.

He said there were seven children in the van: one in a car seat, one in a booster seat, one in the front, two in the middle and two in the rear.

Henderson said the incident that ended on East Third Street is believed to have started with a complaint about a stabbing on Xenia Avenue that Dayton police received about 7:10 p.m.

That was followed by a report about a car accident on Airway Road a short time later, then police responded to the vehicle accident near the library reported at 7:22 p.m.

The accident near the library involved as many as three vehicles, he said.

Serious crash occurs near main library in Dayton

Police took the suspect into custody at the Third Street accident. He has been taken to a hospital. Neither his name, age nor condition were released Monday night.

The conditions of the injured also were not known.

Jonathan Poston, who recorded video of the suspect stealing the Riverside police SUV on Airway Drive in Riverside, said he pulled over and called 9-1-1 when he saw a man running back and forth in the street. Poston said the pickup truck had slammed into a tree and he also saw other wrecked vehicles.

When Riverside police showed up, Poston said, the office got out of the SUV walked to the rear of the vehicle. When he did that, the man ran from the back of the SUV and jumped into the passenger’s side and locked the doors.

Police officer involved in car accident

Poston said the officer unlocked the doors and used his Taser on the man when he refused to get out of the SUV. He fought with the officer after being hit with the Taser barbs, put the SUV in reverse and sped away. Another Riverside police vehicle tried to stop the stolen SUV, but could not. The thief turned the corner, put the SUV in drive and headed west toward Dayton.

No one was injured in the Airway Road part of the incident, Riverside police said.

“I thought something was wrong with [the man], because he was pacing back and forth across Airway -- in traffic,” Poston said. “He was definitely on something.”

Poston said “I’ve never seen anybody get Tased and not fall down immediately, let alone fight back with a police officer and take his vehicle.”

Tiffany Hameil, who was waiting for a bus on East Third, said she saw an oncoming car hit the stolen police SUV in the intersection at Patterson Road. One of the vehicles was spun around in the collision and hit vehicles parked along East Third Street near the library.

“I was terrified,” the Riverside resident said. “There were car parts flying all over the street.”

>>PHOTOS: Serious crash near Main Library

A dispatcher with Huber Heights police, which dispatches for Riverside police at night, said they took a call about 7:14 p.m. reporting a crash at Airway Road and La Perre Drive in Riverside involving an unknown number of vehicles.

We have a crew on scene there, working to learn about the injuries in the Airway Road accident and what may have happened there.

Child being taken from library crash

>> Riverside police vehicle involved in crash on Airway Road

A “signal 99” -- officer in need of assistance -- was called during the SUV theft on Airway Road. Police set up a perimeter at least a block long in each direction from the Dayton Metro Library on East Third Street immediately after the crash there.

At least six medic units were called to East Third Street.

We will update this report as we learn more.

If you have a news tip, call our 24-hour news line at 937-259-2237 or send it to newsdesk@cmgohio.com

2019-08-26 23:50:00Z
https://www.whio.com/news/local/dayton-riverside-police-cruisers-downtown-dayton-multiple-vehicle-crash/a3KBUMtOGkQBfY3XWgBK7J/