Police: Speed a factor in double fatal crash
Wrong-way wreck in Centerville on Oct. 16 left two drivers dead.
A preliminary CENTERVILLE — finding indicates no evidence of alcohol – but does show excessive speed – was involved in the double fatal wrong-way crash on I-675 last week.
An investigation into the highspeed wreck that killed wrongway driver Melvin Bonie Jr. of Beavercreek and Kalip Grimm of Miami Twp. shortly before 9:30 p.m. Oct. 16 did not show signs of alcohol being a factor, according to a Centerville police report released this week.
But it will be several weeks before toxicology and other test results are complete on Bonie, a 69-year-old retired defense analyst turned wine consultant, and Grimm, a 2017 Miamisburg High School graduate, the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office said Tuesday.
The death of Grimm, who would have turned 19 on Sunday, was ruled an accident while a decision on Bonie’s is pending, the coroner’s office said.
The Centerville report indicated Bonie’s Lexus SUV was going about 80 miles per hour as it headed northeast in the middle of the southwest bound lanes in the crash that involved four vehicles and six people, records released Monday show.
Centerville records indicate Bonie was “operating (the) vehicle in a negligent manner.”
Two 911 callers said they saw a vehicle going the wrong way down the southbound Ohio 48 exit ramp from I-675 minutes before the wreck.
Bonie’s Lexus hit two other cars – a Toyota Venza driven by 54-yearold Takasi Sibuya of Miamisburg and a Toyota Corolla driven by 20-year-old Maria Perdomo of Centerville – before the fatal crash, Centerville records show.
The Venza was going about 65 mph in the southbound center lane when the Lexus “came into their lane and sideswiped the driver’s side,” according to the police report.
Bonie’s SUV then hit the passenger side of the Corrolla, which had slowed to about 15 mph, records show.
None of the motorists in the Toyotas – including Venza passenger Tyler Sledge, 22, of Springboro – were hurt, Centerville police officer John Davis said last week.
Bonie’s SUV then collided head on with the Ford Mustang driven at about 65 miles per hour by Grimm, records show. A Mustang passenger, 16-year-old Morgan Sampier of Miamisburg, was treated and released from a local hospital, records indicate.
Seven Centerville police units and crews from Sugarcreek Twp., Montgomery County and the Ohio State Patrol responded to the accident, which forced the closure of all southbound lanes from Wilmington Pike to Ohio 48 until about 3:10 a.m., according to Centerville police.