CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio — A Pickaway County grand jury has indicted a Circleville man on a felony charge of aggravated vehicular homicide in a February crash that killed a Mt. Sterling woman who was struck moments after she pushed a young child out of the path of an oncoming car, the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office said.
John F. Hill, 60, was taken into custody July 13 on a warrant issued after the grand jury returned the indictment, the sheriff’s office said. He is charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, a second-degree felony, and operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs, a first-degree misdemeanor.
Hill was being held in the Pickaway County Jail on a $100,000 bond and was scheduled to be arraigned in Pickaway County Common Pleas Court on July 15, according to the sheriff’s office.
The charges stem from a crash reported about 10 a.m. Feb. 27 at 2611 Walnut Creek Pike in Circleville. Deputies found a 2025 Nissan Sentra that had gone off the west side of the road, traveled through two yards and struck a parked Chevrolet Equinox in a driveway, the sheriff’s office said.
As the Nissan struck the parked vehicle, it also struck a woman standing in the driveway, pinning her between the two vehicles, according to the sheriff’s office. Investigators determined that just before she was hit, the woman had moved a young child who was playing in the driveway out of the car’s path — an act deputies said “more than likely saved his life.”
The woman was identified as Laura J. Hammond, 52, of Mt. Sterling. She was taken by Circleville EMS to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center in Columbus, where she died of her injuries, the sheriff’s office said.
The child was taken to OhioHealth Berger Hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening. Hill, the driver, was also taken to Berger Hospital for treatment of injuries described as non-life-threatening, according to the sheriff’s office.
Sheriff Matthew O. Hafey thanked the Ohio State Highway Patrol, which assisted in the investigation. The crash remains under investigation by the sheriff’s office and the patrol.
Suspects are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office.
