Driver arraigned in Ohio 571 crash

A Sidney man pleaded not guilty this week to misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter in a June 30, three-vehicle crash that injured a Northwestern school board member and killed her husband.

Charles Robbins 61, appeared in Miami County Municipal Court. He is free without bail. A pretrial hearing was scheduled for Jan. 17.

Miami County Sheriff’s deputies said Dan Hasting, 54, of New Carlisle died at the scene of the collision on Ohio 571 near Ohio 201. His wife Elizabeth “Libbee” Hasting was critically injured.

The Hastings are the parents of country music singer Kate Hasting of the band Hasting & Co.

The three-vehicle collision occurred about 5:45 p.m. as Dan Hasting drove west on Ohio 571. Hasting slowed for a pavement striping truck painting white lines when his Honda CR-V was rearended by a Dodge Caravan driven by Robbins, deputies reported.

The impact forced the Hastings’ vehicle into the eastbound lane, where it was struck by a GMC Sierra driven by James Elkins, 42, of New Carlisle, the report says.

Robbins, Elkins and a passenger in Robbins’ vehicle, Janet Robbins of Sidney, all were treated for injuries following the crash.

The vehicular manslaughter case against Charles Robbins was filed Nov. 28, court records show. The charge is a second-degree misdemeanor.

The accident happened just weeks before Hasting & Co. was scheduled to appear and debut a new single at the Clark County Fair. The band kept its commitment in honor of Kate Hasting’s parents and their love of the fair.

“We owe where we’re at largely to my parents’ belief in this project,” she said in July.

The band also performed at Holiday in the City in downtown Springfield earlier this month.