Credit: Montgomery County Jail
Credit: Montgomery County Jail
On Jan. 8, 2024, following an argument at Voyager Village, a mobile home park off West Third Street in Trotwood, Skirvin hit his 35-year-old daughter with a pickup truck.
When police arrived and began to help the woman, Skirvin reportedly drove past at high speed and pointed a long gun at the officers, who then chased after him in an attempt to pull him over.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and Dayton Police Department also responded.
During the chase, Skirvin drove erratically, swerving into oncoming traffic and forcing a Trotwood cruiser to take evasive action to avoid a crash, as well as firing a rifle at officers out of the window of the pickup truck, police said.
At U.S. 35 West near Liscum Drive, Skirvin reportedly ran over a tire deflation device, then drove across all westbound and eastbound lanes to crash into a sheriff’s cruiser head on, finally landing on top of a Trotwood police cruiser.
In the following shootout, seven Dayton officers, four Trotwood officers and two deputies fired at Skirvin, hitting him an unknown number of times.
A Montgomery County grand jury in July 2024 declined to indict the officers involved in the shootout, finding that they had acted lawfully, according to the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office.
The Trotwood officer whose cruiser Skirvin landed on, identified as Michael Richardson, was injured, and both he and Skirvin were taken to Miami Valley Hospital.
Skirvin’s daughter was treated and released after she was hit, Trotwood police said.
After the pursuit, U.S. 35 was shut down between Infirmary Road and Abbey Avenue for more than eight hours for investigation and cleanup.
Skirvin has no known criminal history in the area outside of minor traffic infractions in the Dayton area, police said. In a sentencing memorandum, Skirvin’s defense attorney said that he also had no significant criminal history in Florida, quoting Skirvin as saying, “I led a law-abiding life for 54 years and I ruined it in seven minutes.”
Staff writer Jen Balduf contributed to this story.
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