He said he already knew he wanted to be a trucker because his uncle and cousin work in the industry and make a good living.
“Most of your time is on the road and delivering that stuff. That’s the only downside of it,” Gwynne said. “I actually know that they make good money and that’s why I like it.”
Gwynne said at the time he had always wanted to work in a trade. He thought about being an electrician and working in HVAC, but ultimately trucking stood out to him because of his family connections.
“Because my mom she always said, as long as you have your diploma, you just need a good job,” Gwynne said.
He said his mom had not pushed him towards college, but towards a certification or job that would make a good wage.
“I’m not gonna lie to you, I’m not really a school person,” Gwynne said. “But I am willing to go to school for trade school, because it’s not as long as college.”
Gwynne was a passenger in a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt was headed southeast on Salem Avenue around 1:35 a.m. at unknown speed when the driver lost control near Harvard Boulevard, began to rotate counterclockwise before crashing into an RTA pole, according to a Dayton Police Department crash report.
The driver, 18-year-old Kelsey Minor of Huber Heights, and 19-year-old Jalen Waldon of Harrison Twp. suffered serious injuries and an Shalyia Jenkins, 18, of Dayton, a 17-year-old Lola Wells of Fairborn and 16-year-old Deanna Williams of Dayton suffered minor injuries, the crash report stated.
Gywnne was pronounced dead at the scene.
Northmont City Schools said it is offering grief support for its staff and students.
The youngest person to die in vehicle accidents over the weekend was an 8-year-old girl in Kettering.
Montgomery County Coroner Dr. Kent Harshbarger on Monday identified her as Jozlyn Vickers of Kettering.
She was hit by a truck around 1 p.m. Sunday in a parking lot in the 1200 block of Imperial Boulevard off Wilmington Pike, said Kettering officer Tyler Johnson.
Dispatchers received multiple 911 calls, including one from the driver of the truck who said he did not see her. “I was driving and I believe she must’ve been on the ground playing.”
Jozlyn was taken Miami Valley Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
“Although still under investigation, all factors point to this incident being an extremely unfortunate accident,” Johnson said.
The deadliest was a wrong-way, head-on crash that happened around 1:50 a.m. Sunday on Interstate 75 North near Needmore Road, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Dayton Post.
The crash victims were identified Monday as Darnell Hill, 38, and Joshua Davis, 33, both of Dayton, by the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Dayton Post.
Hill was driving a 2006 Cadillac DTS south in the northbound lanes of I-75 in Harrison Twp. when the Cadillac struck the 2010 Kia Forte driven by Davis head-on, according to the patrol.
The impact forced the Cadillac to then struck a 2017 Nissan Altima driven by David Wickline, 49, of Troy, causing minor damage.
Hill and Davis were pronounced dead at the scene, and Wickline was not injured.
Two of the deadly crashes over the weekend happened in Preble County.
Crews were dispatched around 3:30 a.m. Saturday to Barnetts Mill Road in Somers Twp. in Preble County, where a 2006 GMC Sierra went across a level railway crossing and was hit by a Norfolk Southern train.
The driver was identified as 19-year-old Mason C. Roell of Camden, who succumbed to his injuries at the scene, the highway patrol’s Dayton Post said.
A man died and his wife was critically injured early Sunday after they were pulled from their submerged car found in a Preble County pond.
Jamie R. Rogers, 50, of College Corner, Ohio, was identified Monday by Preble County Sheriff Mike Simpson as the man killed.
Deputies and medics were dispatched around 2:55 a.m. to Ohio 177 near Eaton Oxford Road on a report of a vehicle submerged in a pond along the roadway.
Deputies pulled Rogers and his wife, Bonita S. Rogers, also 50, from the car and performed CPR on both, the sheriff’s said.
They were taken to Kettering Health Hamilton, where Jamie Rogers was pronounced deceased. His wife remains at the hospital.
According to an initial investigation, the Rogers were headed northwest on Ohio 177 when their car veered off the right side of the road and went several hundred feet through a field before coming to rest in a farm pond.
Staff Writer Eileen McClory contributed to this report.
