I-75 driver accused of overdosing with baby on board has a record

A former Dayton-area man police say overdosed last week with a baby in his truck parked along Interstate 75 during rush hour has a previous conviction for child endangering, court records show.

Robert L. Ely Jr., 37, is facing Miamisburg Municipal Court charges after his Jan. 23 arrest along I-75 in Moraine, where police said they found him unconscious in the driver’s seat of a pickup truck with his 3-month-old daughter in the back seat.

Ely, who lives in Florida, was convicted of child endangering in 2004 in a charge filed by the Fairborn Police Department, according to Greene County Common Pleas Court records. He pleaded guilty to a third-degree felony and was sentenced to three years community control and fined $500, court records show.

In last Thursday’s I-75 arrest, police said they apprehended Ely shortly after 5 p.m., when he was found overdosed in the driver’s seat of a truck parked on the shoulder of southbound I-75 with the engine running, records obtained by the Dayton Daily News show.

The infant with Ely was found in the back seat uninjured, records show.

An adult passenger, Kristina

Davis, 36, also of Florida, was also found unconscious in the front seat of the truck, which was in the area of the 49-mile marker, according to Moraine police records.

Police said the incident caused a traffic jam — backing up vehicles for about two miles — and some wrecks.

Ely initially denied using drugs but later said he admitted to doing so, and police found what they believe to be heroin on him, records state.

Moraine medics used Narcan to treat Davis — who Ely said had taken heroin — and crews found a hypodermic syringe where she was sitting, according to police records.