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Ohio officer killed in single-vehicle crash

By Doug Page
WhioTV.com

ENGLEWOOD, Ohio — A Trotwood Police officer died Wednesday morning when his pickup truck drove off Taywood Road and into a creek.

The crash occurred at about 5:40 a.m. in 700 block of Taywood Road in Englewood.

The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office has confirmed that the deceased man pulled from the water this morning is David Yaney. Yaney is an officer with the Trotwood Police Department.

Trotwood Police personnel were at the scene of the crash this morning and escorted the coroner’s vehicle from the area.

Yaney’s daughter Sarah is a police officer with the New Lebanon Police Department.

According to Englewood Police Sgt. Mike Lang, a witness called police at 5:42 a.m. reporting that the red S-10 pickup was in the southbound lane of Taywood when the driver suddenly lost control, crossed the northbound lane and hit a guard rail.

The truck went airborne and plunged down the 35-foot ravine into a pool in Buttermilk Falls Creek. The roadway was wet at the time of the crash, but it is still unknown why the driver lost control suddenly.

A surveillance video from a nearby car wash shows the truck traveling normally and then driving into a snow bank without braking. Reporters on the scene said there are no skid marks on the roadway.

Lang said if the witness had not seen the accident they may not have found the truck for hours as it was completely submerged. He said the first officers on the scene could barely make out the dim headlights and taillights of the truck under the water.

The first responding police officers could not go into the icy water. “We can’t have any more victims,” Lang said.

Divers were called in from the Piqua and West Milton fire departments were able to go in the water and begin the search for the victim. They said the visibility in the extremely cold water was about 12 to 18 inches.

Emergency crews worked until nearly 10 a.m. to pull the red pickup truck out of the water using a large crane. The truck had extreme front end and roof damage.

Divers found the victim outside of the vehicle. All of the glass was broken out of the truck’s windows.

There was a trail of broken tree limbs leading from the guardrail down to the creek showing the path the vehicle traveled.

A crash reconstruction team is on scene and will have Taywood closed until about 2 p.m. as they investigate.

Reprinted with permission from whiotv.com