The guy in the white vehicle didn't even put on his brakes. It was very violent. Monday, April 1st, 2024, Dayton, Ohio. The police receive a call from a man reporting a car accident on Interstate 70 near the exit for the Dayton International Airport. The driver who hit him had fled the scene, and officers have to head to the location to gather details about the accident. However, something horrific was unfolding just yards away from the original call. Multiple 911 calls began coming in. An accident had occurred at the intersection of Terminal and Boeing Drive. The police along with firefighters and EMS had to respond immediately. The same vehicle was involved in both accidents. I'm Tyler and this is your daily dose of crime. One, he was acting goofy on 70. That guy tried to hit him several times, but they're saying this is the unit one. He's acting a little goofy. And so my guy standing here. I said if you had two people have a medic checking you put him in the backseat of a cruiser give you heads up. That's this dude here. He's got medical equipment. You said no we have medical checking cuz he's bleeding from the head. Oh yeah. But he want to get out put in the back of a cruiser. You get to act too goofy almost. He's kind of acting a little squirrely on this. Okay. And there's some um makaker mark in there as well. Okay. Are you guys wanting me to handle correct if you don't mind? Yes. Because I think we're going to have a fail. Okay. This guy here got on Hey Chris 78 at 48 in Englewood and was ramming. He was ramming the truck trying to fit maneuver the entire if you're investigating whenever he wants to pull his bodies out. Don't do anything but the bodies hit. We're doing it. They're all confirmed right now. How many we got? When officers and firefighters arrived at the terminal, they were met with a devastating scene. A gray minivan and a truck were completely destroyed. The officers discussed the driver's behavior at the time of impact and in the minutes leading up to it on Interstate 70 where the first events occurred. A situation was critical and the police needed to figure out exactly what had happened, especially after bottles of alcohol were found in the responsible vehicle. You witness, sir? Yeah, I was I was on the phone with 911. He road raged me on 70. Okay. kept hitting me from behind and I was following. He hit you from behind. Oh yeah. I like I was on the phone with dispatch. Um when this happened? Yeah. He he he just started pounding me from behind on 70. So I followed him. Okay. Well, I mean road rage technically or you just come up and hit you and then he kept hitting you and hitting you? He kept hitting me and hitting me. So he hit you initially and then he kept hitting then he kept hitting me. He hit me maybe five times. He was trying to push me off the road. I pulled over. I was trying to let him go past. You know, the first one he just got up on me. Okay. And I I was seeing the road rage would be like where you're hitting him or you guys. Oh, no. No, no, no. There was no back and forth, man. I'm just driving. This dude just came up behind me and just started slamming me. I And I I tried to get out and I'm just thinking, well, I just Do you have your license on you real quick? You want a picture? You want to keep this? The guy just going to Grand View? This is driver number one, I believe. Yeah, I'll take that. I don't get his information. I mean, I need We'll get you information. I need your license. I'm not going to get you started on statement. That's fine. Like I say, I was on the phone with with uh 911 when it happened. 1685 1401. Good. Are we going to need it? Do we need to also start this way for traffic control? You guys can deal with traffic control, correct? We got this. Yep. Where is he going? I'll find out. But I met one of my guys go with him cuz I think he's acting a goo and he's over. He's He's a little combative. Yep. Statement. He was the first road rage, quote unquote. This guy came up in the back of him and smacked him five times. Okay. And then he followed him. And this is where I'm getting that now. I think it started 30 right around. Yeah. Um, so like I said, I just got him working on that, but I'm getting him out. So, I was going to grab Bill's bedroom photos, but we're going to need somebody to get it tomorrow. Yeah, we'll get him down there. Do me a favor. I'll talk to this guy. Jump in your car. Type up a quick word document of that what we see what you see out at the scene. Did Did you Was this guy already gone when you got here? This guy is still here. I did very minimum. I just I didn't get close enough. I just seen him in there on top of them getting these guys did. Back at the first accident site, officers spoke with the first victim who explained the events. He had been driving on Interstate 70 when another vehicle suddenly began to rear end him repeatedly until he pulled over to the side of the road to let it pass. It became clear that the victim had been harassed by the driver, which defined the first charge in the case as aggravated vehicular assault. Authorities needed to proceed and gather all evidence, including blood tests, to determine the aggressor's condition. The situation was delicate, and with every passing moment, things were not improving. Sir, how are you? Well, man, how are you? Good. So, he's definitely intoxicated. Okay. Yeah, just that that hit up his head, but yeah, he he's acting like Okay. So, um so yeah, just shoot Rachel an email real quick. She's going to run down to the valley. She just needs an affidavit real quick and then I can just tell if she has any alcohol down there as well. We'll at least get the affidavit done for the Grand View. That's where he's going. Grand View or He told me Grand. I just asked. I just asked. He said Grand. Yeah. Sir, where did this start at? Just um east of 48. So you're heading eastbound. So you were coming from westbound heading eastbound. Correct. And that's where it kind of started around the 40. Hit me from behind. Okay. Um, and do you know about what time this happened? Like Yeah, I know exactly. That's when I called 911. The first I guess Yeah. The first contact you had with him. I called 911 at 218. So it had to be maybe 210, 20, you know, somewhere in that cuz he hit me four or five times. I waited for him to get around me. He didn't when he got off on 70. So probably wasn't that long. So probably 5 minutes if that. So So between 218 and I would say about 210 and 218. Yeah, something like that. Okay. And you said eastbound from was this before 48 the exit? I got I got off I got on 70 from Route 48 and between he there and here whatever that 10 or 12 mile. Wow. Yeah. It's probably about it's about it's about 2 miles. Oh yeah. Yeah. About 2 miles. Like the guy just started I mean he just came up behind me and just started hitting me from behind like Okay. I don't I don't know. All right. I'll I'll be right back with you to finish that stuff and I'll get back. Two outside. One in the passenger seat, one in the back middle row of seats. Two outside, two. Yeah, we had to move one to get the other guy unfortunately. So So he's four right now. Correct. Four. From what I understand, we had a call of this one driving recklessly on 75, possibly involved in a minor crash to that guy over there in that truck. He followed him. Okay. Yep. And then he followed him to where he crashed. And just to let you know, we're pulling uh video footage. Okay. So, we'll have that as well. I'll let you know. Four. So, you got four. One of the officers stated that the driver identified as Clayton Daniel Hughes was definitely intoxicated. As more evidence was gathered and detailed records of the accidents were taken, the police began collecting footage and witness testimony to help reconstruct the timeline of events. Fatalities were confirmed and authorities feared the worst case scenario. Yes, sir. Forward in here? Yes. And that's all we're expecting. Or is there Yeah, there's one was transported to the valley. The survivor of this one who was in this back corner. He was right here. Okay. So, there's five in here. Yeah. Five in here, one in the other car. Um, he's on his way to Grand Grand View. And as I told the other gentleman, um, there's a bottle of Makers Mark on the floor inside his car. And I had a pretty strong smell. So, Mike Mike said it first. Um, this this guy's injuries here, the the living is he he's he's beat up pretty good. I don't think it'll be fatal, but he's pretty bad shape. Okay. All right. At least. Okay. All right. Thank you, sir. Front seat of the floor right here in this white room. All right. He called the corners on this. Oh, yeah. We got four confirmed. Four confirmed. Um Rachel's going to go down to Grand View. Cudence is going to type up a quick affidavit for what he saw here. She's going to go down there. She'll type up the warrant for the blood draw. How bad is he? Um, are we now? His injuries. The firefighters reported having to assess the condition of the victims to prioritize who would be extricated first for medical assistance. During the process, they confirmed that only one person out of five in the minivan showed signs of life, but was in critical condition. Uh, Rachel said to Grand View, students just sent her an affidavit for this up here. We'll get statements from all the firefighters on and then he also cut the airbags off. He could smell some alcohol and said he could smell Altoid. So, um JJ is coming out. Um Murray asked I might send Murray down to the hospital. We need him here. Yeah, we're probably not here cuz once he gets clear, we're going to have to transport him. Yeah. So, but yeah, I just think given some information for Linda on if he's I don't think he has any like she's asking if he's on parole just violate him, but I don't think I don't think he is. I don't know. So, but I was going to call up to the hub and tell him we need to hold someone over so we can get the blood up there and rush it. Okay. Did the uh the driver of this Volvo, did he show any signs of impairment? I can't he was slow but again and I made a note in there his answering his speech and things were slow but he he was not really slurring his words and you know it was an accident I can't say that he actually was uh I can't say he was honestly slurring or anything else. Did you smell any alcoh I got a whiff on everything else but he also had some kind of mints. There's Altoids all over the car. Okay. But there's the bottle that was laying there on that front floor. I could see that from where I was standing. Would you describe it? The odor of alcohol. The odor of alcohol. Was it the odor of alcohol? Was it coming from his person? Personally, I'll actually personally be curious to see how intoxicated if he was indeed intoxicated. He seemed oblivious to me that you know, he knew there was an accident, but that's all he said. You know, he just kind of stared out in space. And you said the smell of Altoids. Yeah, Altoids. Mint. And he's got like three or four cans of it in that back seat on the floor cuz when I open the door, I saw those on the opposite side. Yeah, it's right on the opposite side. Yeah, he's got them here on the floor, too. I see them now. You just saw them or smelled them? I did not. I smelled those originally. Okay. Some some kind of mint. So, I'm going to say had to be those. But he's also got like three or four more tens in the back seat on the opposite side. And then as he was, as I described in there, he was leaning against that console kind of, you know, oblivious to what was going on. One of the um airport officers were standing in, but I walked out when I got the airbag out. The officers discussed how to proceed and what protocol to follow next. They needed concrete evidence to confirm that Hughes was intoxicated. And for this, the testimonies from the firefighters would be essential as they were the only ones who had entered the vehicles and had contact with the driver. Multiple bottles of alcohol were found in Hughes's truck and the strong smell of mint liquor was present not only inside the vehicle but also in the aggressor's breath. Was going this direction coming through the light and it was green. So just a solid green for inbound traffic into the terminal. Yep. How close were you to were you ahead of it or were you I was I was about where that guy in the yellow jacket is. That's where I was positioned on front of the blue car. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's about where I was. And it felt like it happened in slow motion, but it definitely was not. You said it was just a solid green for inbound traffic. Yep. It sure was. Guy in the white vehicle was definitely speeding fast. So it's a it's so it's it's two lanes up. Yes. I'm on the right pane. So you're in the light So you're in the right hand lane and in the white SUV, he passed you very fast. In which lane? Uh on the left. In the left lane. In the left lane. Yes. and the van was turning left and turned in front of him. Sure did not realize how fast he was going, but he did not even put on his brakes. Okay, the guy in the white vehicle didn't even put on his brakes. I'm I'm speculating a little bit, but it almost seemed like the gray vehicle was hesitant, like didn't know what to do, like kind of slowed down, but then kept going. It's kind of weird. When the white vehicle passed you, would you be able to to just estimate or give a give a guesstimate on how fast do you think he was? I would think he was probably still going 65. Okay. In my mind, it seemed like it could have been avoided if if either driver had I I don't know. It just I don't know. He was definitely going way too fast, though. I don't think he even put on his Well, I know he didn't. He didn't didn't put on his brakes or anything, but it almost felt like the gray vehicle saw him coming and was already in the in the turn and just hesitated. Didn't know what to do. Did you make contact with anyone out of either vehicles? No, I just pulled over immediately cuz I knew they would need help. I got out. I witnessed some people trying to help. The guy in the white vehicle um did not seem right, but I know he just probably hit his head. What do you mean by did not seem right? He was kind of like almost laughing, but you you could tell he was alive. A lot of people went to try to help the people in this vehicle and they just didn't have pulses. They were probably in some detail. Okay. So, you didn't talk to the driver, the white I did not. I only observed. Just observed. Okay. Yeah. But he he almost laughed. It was very weird and he kept trying to get out and the gentleman that was there was a police officer here that I believe probably works at the airport that was just a B like not on duty. Okay. Like was just getting off of duty and he immediately went over there and the guy kept trying to get out of the vehicle and he kept telling him not to. Okay. Just stay in the vehicle. That and that was for the individual in the white SUV. He was absolutely. And when he did t-bo him um it was it was very violent, but the the the gray car did speed and slammed into that pole. I mean like spun and sp uh slammed into that pole. Taking testimonies, a woman described exactly what she witnessed. She detailed seeing the aggressor driving extremely fast with certain erratic behaviors where he would accelerate and decelerate at inappropriate times. She claimed that Hughes never applied the brakes before the impact and that when he exited the vehicle, he was laughing and showing incoherent behavior. Was Hughes really that intoxicated? Or were there deeper intentions behind his actions? Looks like this car had the green light. He came up, slipped through the intersection. This guy's OBI. There's five five people in this car. The driver. Looks like the van was going north. The other Volvo north. Yep. And then he was going east. And what I believe what he did is ran the red light here. Came over here. He was back that way. Is this part of the the road? No. Well, yes. that white car and then you see that white truck over there. It's part of the road race. So this guy came up behind him, bumped him in the rear like five times and then he followed up here and as he was following him, he came through here, ran the red light while following the Volo on Interstate 70. What did you observe? Like he was driving speed as he he was he was going fast and he was all over the road. He about lost it getting off on the exit ramp. Okay. They say the the exit ramp. Do you mean for this airplane? Yeah. I'm sure there's marks down there. And how would you describe all over the road? He was just changing changing lanes and just not maintaining his lane. Was he was he using a turn signal and changing lanes? No, he was but he was physical. He was he was driving the car. He wasn't out of, you know what I'm saying? Out of control or was he passing traffic or was he just alone and just not maintain his lane or There wasn't a whole lot of other people. I don't think he passed anyone else. Um but he was just aggressive driving, you know. Was he going was he in the right lane, left lane, or was he in both lanes? When I was when he was hitting me, I was in the right hand lane. My cruise control was set dead on the speed limit. Um like cuz he you know he got up behind me really close a couple of times like I thought I might have cut him off or something when I got on the highway and just didn't see him you know and then all of a sudden he just starts boom boom boom from behind. I guess what I mean um when I was saying all over the road after he passed you and you were observing his driving and you said that he was uh he was he was going fast and all over the road uh when you were following him was he just not able to maintain his lane? Was he? No, it was almost like he was changing lane, you know, driving the car. He wasn't drifting back and forth. You know, he was clearly was steering the car where he wanted it to go in my opinion. But he was changing lanes, but there was no traffic around. Okay. Right. I think the one was the driver. No, he was. There's still a guy in here. No, he was the passenger. Oh, he was the front right passenger. Oh, okay. So, they pulled the driver. Okay. They pulled the driver out. We're still working on that. Work on him. Okay. I thought he got thrown over. They pulled out one of the occupants here and then the driver was here. Then the driver was here. So what I'm saying for the crash report, your front right passenger, your driver remained. So we know those for a fact. Your third row remained. So we know he was in the third row. It's just going to be these two, which I'm I'm going to say probably in the middle. That guy on that far side came over top of this guy cuz he wasn't makes sense. So with all the details, reports, and records in place, the officers completed the documentation to define the charges against the aggressor. Based on videos, testimonies, and evidence, the police continued following protocol and issued an arrest warrant for Hughes as soon as he was discharged from the hospital. Four fatalities were confirmed. Steven Castle, age 72, of Clayton. Richard Cotney, age 77, of Peekqua, Larry Edwards, age 77, of Tip City, and Richard Turnbull, age 66, of Lewisburg. A fifth person was seriously injured and transported to the hospital. On July the 24th of 2024, Clayton Daniel Hughes, aged 26, was charged with eight counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, one count of aggravated vehicular assault, vehicular assault, failure to stop after an accident, and OVI. He faces years in prison and potential restitution depending on the circumstances of the crime and his prior criminal