Man pleads guilty in hit-and-run that critically injured teen last April
A Dayton man will be sentenced almost exactly one year after a hit-andrun crash that critically injured an 18-year-old as she was walking home from a friend’s house in Harrison Twp.
Joseph Robert Ferguson II, 37, will be sentenced April 1 in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court after he pleaded guilty Friday to two felony counts of vehicular assault and one count of failure to stop after an accident plus 16 additional felony charges uncovered during an “extensive investigation spanning several jurisdictions,” according to the Montgomery County Sheriff ’s Office.
A pedestrian, identified as I’Sice Thomas, was struck around 10:50 p.m. April 6, 2023, as she was crossing North Main Street at the Santa Clara Avenue intersection. She was taken to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries and was later released from the hospital.
Detectives with the sheriff ’s office Special Investigations Unit began investigating Ferguson on unrelated charges beginning May 16, and when Harrison Twp. deputies stopped him in an older model Buick Century in connection to that investigation, he was caught with a firearm and methamphetamine, the sheriff’s office stated.
The sheriff’s office received a tip from Miami Valley Crime Stoppers that the Buick driven by Ferguson was involved in the hitand-run crash and deputies determined it had damage consistent with a pedestrian crash.
Additional evidence linked Ferguson to various crimes, including the hit-and-run crash, through a collaborative investigation involving Special Investigations, detectives in Harrison and Washington townships and the Traffic Services Unit, according to the sheriff’s office.
Ferguson remains held in the Montgomery County Jail awaiting sentencing.
A $1,000 reward was offered for anyone who had information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case. Once paperwork is completed information will go to Crime Stoppers to pay out the reward money, the sheriff’s office said.