Driver suspected in fatal, wrong-way crash had traffic violation history

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

The woman killed in Friday’s wrong-way crash on Interstate 675 was a local high school graduate and university student, and the man who caused the crash worked at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and has several traffic citations in his past.

The Dayton Daily News is working to learn more about the crash that killed 23-year-old Paige Elizabeth Patrick. The other driver, 53-year-old Ronald Myer, was driving southbound in the northbound lanes when the crash occurred, according to Beavercreek police.

Paige Elizabeth Patrick was killed in the June 21, 2019 wrong-way crash on I-675 North in Beavercreek. CONTRIBUTED

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Following a public records request, police released cruiser-cam video from an officer responding to the scene, but few other details from the investigation have been released so far. Police have not said where Myer entered the exit-ramp, whether alcohol is a factor in the crash, and where he had been just prior to the crash.

Myer, a Centerville resident, was an employee at Wright-Patterson, base officials confirmed on Tuesday.

According to his Facebook profile, Myer worked in the chief, audit, compliance and portfolio management branch at the Air Force Financial Systems Office. A native of Decatur, Ala., Myer attended WSU’s graduate school and studied accounting, finance and business management at Husson University, a private school in Bangor, Maine, according to his Facebook profile.

According to Kettering Municipal Court records, Myer has five previous traffic citations from October 2008 to July 2016. The traffic cases include two incidents of speeding, one failure to yield the right-of-way, one failure to maintain assured clear distance and one failure to give full time and attention to operating the vehicle, according to the court records.

In addition, Fairborn Municipal Court records show Myer was cited by the highway patrol for speeding in 2005, going 83 in a 65 mph zone.

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Patrick was in her third year studying art history and religion at Wright State University. She graduated in 2013 from Vandalia Butler High School, where she was a member of choir and the debate team, according to her obituary.

Patrick worked at T-Mobile and was an ordained minister; she enjoyed dancing, hiking, Pokemon Go, yoga, kayaking, biking, drawing and writing, according to her obituary.

A gathering of Patrick’s family and friends will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Blessing-Zerkle Funeral Home, 11900 N. Dixie Drive, Tipp City. A funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m. the following day at the funeral home. Burial will follow at Forest Hills Memorial Gardens in Tipp City.

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