Centerville police said Melvin Bonie Jr., 69, a Beavercreek wine consultant who was a retired analyst from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, was driving the wrong way on southbound Interstate 675 at about 9 p.m. Oct. 16, 2017, when his car glanced off one vehicle before crashing head-on into a second car driven by Kalip Grimm, 18, a 2017 Miamisburg High School graduate, killing both of them. STAFF
Area wrong-way crash deaths reach 15 in 3 years
Nick Blizzard, Staff Writer
Three Mason residents who were killed in a Sunday night accident on Interstate 75 are the latest deaths involving area wrong-way wrecks.
Timmy Thompson, 51, Karen Thompson, 50, and Tessa Thompson, 10, have been identified as victims in the Sunday night wreck that occurred about 8 p.m. between Dryden Road and South Dixie Drive, according to the Montgomery County Coroner's Office.
The deaths increase the total to at least 15 people killed in area wrong-way crashes in the region since 2016.
Other area deaths involving wrong-way collisions include:
•I-70 crash kills one: A Huber Heights man was killed Nov. 27, 2017, near the Taywood Road overpass, according to state troopers.
Michael O'Shea, 46, was pronounced dead at the scene after he drove a Ford Explorer east in the westbound lanes of the highway, according to troopers.
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Troopers said O'Shea sideswiped another vehicle before hitting a tractor-trailer rig. The truck driver walked away with minor injuries.
A truck driver who said he witnessed the crash reported O'Shea was driving counter to traffic without headlights before hitting a semi.
•OVI-related wreck kills 2 on I-675: The driver who police said caused a double-fatal accident Oct. 16, 2017, on Interstate 675 was intoxicated, according to coroner's records.
Melvin Bonie of Beavercreek had more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood, according to the Montgomery County coroner's report.
About 9:30 p.m., Centerville police said he drove northbound in the interstate's southbound lane, prompting the wreck that killed himself and Kalip Grimm of Miami Twp.
Grimm, a 2017 Miamisburg High School graduate, was less than a week away from celebrating his 19th birthday when the accident occurred just north of the interchange of Ohio 48, where police said Bonie entered the highway.
•Fiery downtown Dayton crash: The wrong-way driver in an April 30, 2017, fiery crash in Dayton, Andrew T. Brunsman, had alcohol and marijuana in his system at the time, according to the Montgomery County Coroner's Office.
Brunsman, 30, of Beavercreek, plowed head-on into a semi hauling a tanker of gasoline. The collision and following explosions sent fireballs skyward and plumes of black smoke pouring over Dayton neighborhoods north of downtown.
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The tanker and its contents burned for more than an hour. Authorities shut down the entire highway. Pavement was damaged by the inferno at the accident site, causing delay to reopening some southbound lanes.
•Band members killed: In February of 2016, five people, including several local musicians, were killed in a wrong-way crash blamed on alcohol on I-75.
The dead included three members of a Dayton rock band CounterFlux and a 61-year-old man who had been arrested for OVI just 48 hours before the crash.
The young victims included four friends: Kyle Canter, 23, of New Carlisle; Earl Miller II, 27, of New Carlisle; Vashti Nicole Brown, 29, of Dayton; and Devin Bachmann, 26, of Huber Heights.
James Pohlabeln, a 61-year-old retiree from Dayton, was the driver of the other car, and he was headed the wrong direction.
RELATED: Coroner ID's family of 3 who died in wrong-way crash on I-75 south in Moraine
He had been released from jail just 33 hours earlier in connection with a separate suspected drunken driving crash.
•Parents of four die: A Fairfield couple died April 8, 2016, when a wrong-way driver, who also died, struck their car on I-75 in Evandale.
Nazif Shteiwi, 61, and his wife, Halla Odeh Shteiwi, 55, were returning from a family function in Kentucky when hit by Kory Wilson, 30, of Springfield Twp.
Wilson had a blood-alcohol level 2.5 times the legal limit in Ohio, said Hamilton County Coroner's Office. Witnesses said Wilson was driving the correct way on I-75 seconds before the crash, then abruptly turned around.
The Shteiwis, who immigrated from Jordan 40 years ago, had four children in college, the family said.-
•Freeway suicide: On April 14, 2015, Chris Coleman passed through an emergency U-turn drive to the oncoming lanes of I-70 near the 48-mile marker in Clark County.
He drove the wrong way on the shoulder before veering into the path of an oncoming tractor-trailer, according to witnesses. Coleman's Mazda exploded on impact and he died at the scene.
The semi driver escaped without injury. After an investigation, the coroner ruled that Coleman committed suicide.