Man gets probation in I-75 crash

A Harrison Twp. man accused of drunken driving during a wrong-way crash onto Interstate 75 in December 2022 that seriously injured three other people was granted probation.

Pascal Micucu Mutabazi, 26, was sentenced last week by Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Susan Solle to up to five years of community control sanctions, according to sentencing documents filed Monday.

He pleaded guilty Feb. 16 to vehicular assault and OVI, both misdemeanor charges. He originally was indicted for aggravated vehicular assault, a felony, but it was dismissed as part of his plea agreement.

Mutabazi was driving a 2012 Genesis around 2:50 a.m. Dec. 11, 2022, east on Needmore Road when at the exit ramp from I-75 South he crossed over the west lanes on Needmore Road and ran off the east side of the road for the I-75 off-ramp in Harrison Twp., according to a crash report filed by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.

The car Mutabazi was driving slid sideways down the embankment and crashed into the guardrail on I-75, drove onto I-75 South while headed north and collided with a 2017 Lincoln MKZ.

The impact forced the second car, driven by a 43-yearold Cincinnati man, to overturn and strike the median concrete barrier, according to the crash report.

Both drivers and Mutabazi’s passengers, two 24-yearold Dayton men, were taken to Miami Valley Hospital for treatment of serious injuries, the report stated.

In addition to probation, Mutabazi’s driver’s license was suspended for a mandatory one year and he was ordered to pay more than $2,300 restitution, records show.

JEN BALDUF, STAFF WRITER