Can you help? Dayton teen with autism waiting for school bus struck, critically injured

Dayton police believe a black 2010-2015 Chevrolet Equinox, similar to the one shown, is the SUV that struck a teenager in Dayton Wednesday morning, Sept. 15, 2021, as he was standing on the sidewalk waiting for a school bus on North Main Street near Maplelawn Drive. The SUV should be missing a metal piece from around the grille that was left at the crash scene.

Dayton police believe a black 2010-2015 Chevrolet Equinox, similar to the one shown, is the SUV that struck a teenager in Dayton Wednesday morning, Sept. 15, 2021, as he was standing on the sidewalk waiting for a school bus on North Main Street near Maplelawn Drive. The SUV should be missing a metal piece from around the grille that was left at the crash scene.

A Dayton teenager with autism was standing on the sidewalk waiting for his school bus Wednesday morning when he was struck and critically injured by an SUV that fled.

The Dayton Police Department is asking the public for information about the hit-and-run cash that happened at 6:45 a.m. on North Main Street near Maplelawn Drive as detectives continue their investigation.

Detectives said they believe the SUV is a black 2010-2015 Chevrolet Equinox, which should have front and passenger side damage after striking 18-year-old Rohoneal McDonald.

“To make things worse, the student has special needs and is autistic and doesn’t quite understand what’s going on in the hospital now, according to his mother,” Dayton police Sgt. Gordon Cairns, Traffic Services Unit supervisor said Friday morning during a media briefing.

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A witness reported the headlights were out on one side of the SUV, and it is missing a silver trim piece from around the top half of the grille that was left at the crash scene.

Cairns said the crash was particularly concerning because the vehicle went up onto the sidewalk.

“At this point we have nothing to go on as far as if this was an intentional act or if this was strictly an accident,” Cairns said. “Obviously, a lot of that is going to be part of the investigation and that’s why we really want anyone that may have seen this, may have heard about it, may have any sort of doorbell footage, camera footage or anything like that to come forward and let us know to help us with the investigation.”

Anyone with information is urged to call detective Taylor Gianangeli at 937-333-1104. To remain anonymous and possibly collect a cash reward for information that leads to an arrest, call Miami Valley Crime Stoppers at 937-222-STOP.

Dayton police also are investigating a deadly crash on Stanley Avenue that happened within a couple hours of the teen getting hit.

Musaddin Abdullayev, a 60-year-old Dayton man, was killed in the two-vehicle crash reported around 8:35 a.m. Wednesday at the intersection of Stanley Avenue and Kuntz Road. Abdullayev was driving a Toyota Corolla west on Stanley Avenue apparently at excessive speed and ran a red light, hitting a semi truck turning onto Stanley Avenue from Kuntz Road, according to a crash report.

“We do have video footage showing the sequence of events that caused this accident,” said Cairns. “We’re trying to wait for autopsy results before we can make a determination as to if this was a medical situation or if there was something else wrong.”

A medical condition initially was relayed to crews at the scene of the crash, he added.

Cairns reminded drivers to give other vehicles space while on the road and to avoid distractions.

“We do get a high number of accidents in general,” he said. “A lot of this just comes down to driver attention and driver behaviors … Once you’re in that car all your attention should be spent on the road, what’s going on around you, the traffic signals, the traffic flow and your speed.”

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