May 29 – Three motorcyclists in Montgomery County and two teenagers in Butler and Warren counties were among 17 people killed in 14 crashes on Ohio roads over the Memorial Day weekend.
Fatalities are down from last year in Ohio, when 26 people were killed during the four-day reporting period from Friday to Monday, according to preliminary statistics from the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
However, the death toll was higher regionally this year, with five people killed in four crashes in southwestern Ohio. Last year, two 17-year-olds were killed in separate crashes, one from Lebanon in Warren County and one from Greenville in Darke County.
Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer, also marks the start of the 100 deadliest days. The period that continues over Labor Day weekend is an increased time for accidents, especially among teen drivers.
Gregory Yannekis, 43, was identified Tuesday by the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office as the motorcyclist pronounced dead at the scene of a fiery crash in West Carrollton. The crash happened shortly before 8 a.m. Friday on West Central Avenue and also involved an SUV, West Carrollton police said.
No further information has been released and the crash remains under investigation.
Dayton residents Shawn Norman, 58, and Clarence Weatherby, 68, were pronounced dead at the scene of a crash in Harrison Twp on Saturday shortly after 9 p.m. injuring a woman driving an SUV.
Norman was driving a 2017 Polaris Slingshot three-wheel motorcycle south of State Route 48, with Weatherby as his passenger, when they collided with a 2011 Buick Enclave driven by 31-year-old Meleah Walker of Dayton, who was turning left onto Philadelphia Drive in. according to the patrol’s Dayton Post. Walker was taken to Kettering Health Dayton with injuries described as non-life-threatening.
The investigation into the crash is ongoing, police said.
Two 17-year-old passengers died Sunday after separate car crashes in Butler and Warren counties.
Briana Kaylin Tzeiranakis, a junior at Ross High School, was a passenger in a 2022 Honda Civic driven by 16-year-old Logan Webster that went off the right side of the road in a curve and struck a utility pole around 2 a.m. : Sunday at 8:30 p.m. in the 4800 block of Cincinnati Brookville Road (State Route 126) between Scott Street and Alert New London Road in Morgan Twp., according to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office.
Tzeiranakis, of Morgan Twp. was flown to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, where she died from her injuries. Webster, of Ross Twp., was treated at the scene. According to the sheriff’s office report, he was distracted by his passenger prior to the crash.
Jason Flint, of Blanchester, was pronounced dead at the scene after being ejected during the crash reported around 9:55 p.m. on Settlemyre Road south of Wilmington Road in Washington Twp., Warren County, according to the patrol’s Lebanon Post.
A 19-year-old Clarksville woman, Brittney Shockley, was driving a 2008 Mazda MX-5 when she went off the left side of the road in a curve and then crossed the road and turned right and overturned, ejecting Flint and a car . A 15-year-old passenger, both of whom were not wearing a seat belt, troopers said.
Shockley and the 15-year-old suffered injuries that were not life-threatening and were taken to area hospitals for treatment.
Both crashes remain under investigation.
During the four-day reporting period, officers made 19,104 traffic enforcement contacts, including 361 drunk driving arrests, 61 drug arrests, 2,662 seat belt citations and 1,090 distracted driving citations. In addition, the patrol made 9,779 non-enforcement contacts, including 1,950 motorists.
Motorists are encouraged to call #677, when it is safe and legal to do so, to report drug activity and dangerous or impaired driving.
