The Guardian has obtained the dashcam video from the DUI traffic stop where a man was killed by a passing semi.
The video is from the trooper’s cruiser early Saturday morning where Jonathon S. Richards, 31, of Hamilton, died on Interstate 71 near milepost 63 after he was pulled over for speed and weaving. Troopers say that when he was being questioned during the traffic stop it appeared he was drunk. When he was placed under arrested, he escaped from troopers while in handcuffs and was hit by a passing semi.
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In the dashcam, you can see Richard’s blue Ford Focus swerve and almost run off the road before the trooper pulls him over. During the traffic stop, Richards tells the trooper he had been driving for about 10 hours and was traveling from the state of New York. You can hear the trooper asking the man why he almost ran off the road, to which Richards replies he was “watching YouTube.”
The trooper saw an open beer in Richard’s console and conducted a field sobriety test. Richards failed, according to the Ohio Highway Patrol, and was told he was being placed under arrest for DUI and for a warrant out of Butler County — it would have been Richard’s third DUI charge.
When the trooper was placing Richards in the back seat of the cruiser, the trooper loosened the cuffs up from being too tight. It was at that point, Richards ran from the trooper and into three lanes of traffic on I-71; a passing semi hit him head-on.
The trooper was heard yelling “stop, stop!” and then “oh!” when semi hit and killed Richards.
The southbound lanes were closed at route 35 for more than four hours, according to ODOT. The crash occurred at 3:30 a.m. and the highway opened back up at 8:10 a.m.
