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Victim in deadly river crash was trapped in vehicle

Soldiers Home-West Carrollton Rd is closed down while the area is searched for a missing man. The accident happened about 12:45 a.m. The truck went off the left side of the road through an area that does not have a guardrail and rolled down a steep embankment into the river.

Staff photo by Ron Alvey Soldiers Home-West Carrollton Rd is closed down while the area is searched for a missing man. The accident happened about 12:45 a.m. The truck went off the left side of the road through an area that does not have a guardrail and rolled down a steep embankment into the river.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Soldiers Home West Carrollton Rd. is closed down while the area is searched for a missing man. A vehicle, carrying three people, went off the road toward the Great Miami River. Two of the men walked away, one is still missing.

Staff photo by Ron Alvey Soldiers Home West Carrollton Rd. is closed down while the area is searched for a missing man. A vehicle, carrying three people, went off the road toward the Great Miami River. Two of the men walked away, one is still missing.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Photos: Truck, body pulled from river
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Soldiers Home West Carrollton Road is closed down while the area is searched for a missing man. A vehicle, carrying three people, went off the road toward the Great Miami River. Two of the men walked away, one is still missing.

Ron Alvey Soldiers Home West Carrollton Road is closed down while the area is searched for a missing man. A vehicle, carrying three people, went off the road toward the Great Miami River. Two of the men walked away, one is still missing.

By James Cummings, Kristin McAllister and Steve Bennish
Staff Writers Updated 3:21 AM Thursday, September 17, 2009

WEST CARROLLTON — Authorities identified a man killed Wednesday, Sept. 16, when a pick-up truck plunged into the Great Miami River as Brandon Myers, 19, of West Carrollton.

Myers was killed when the truck, headed south on Soldiers Home West Carrollton Road, went off the road in the vicinity of the B&O Railroad trestle about 12:49 a.m.

The driver, Garrett D. Haper, 33, of West Carrollton, and the other passenger, Douglas R. Tussey, 23, also of West Carrollton, were able to escape the wreckage, make it back to the riverbank and flag down a police cruiser on the way to a reported shooting, according to West Carrollton police Chief Richard Barnhart and the Ohio Highway Patrol.

Myers was trapped in the Ford F-250, which tow trucks pulled from the water Wednesday afternoon.

According to the patrol, Haper went off the right side of Soldiers Home West Carrollton Road, north of Farmersville West Carrollton Road and over-corrected. That caused the vehicle to veer left into a tree, then down an embankment and into the water.

Haper and Tussey were taken to Miami Valley Hospital suffering from minor injuries, officials said. Myers was in the front seat, officials said.

Barnhart said the truck was heavily damaged and the doors likely would not have opened.

Three divers from a Hamilton County dive team arrived at 11:22 a.m. and found the submerged truck within minutes. Barnhart said city fire crews waded into the river with poles and pinpointed the vehicle’s location, but could not recover Myers’ body because the water was too deep and the visibility was poor.

Barnhart said the truck came to rest in 13 to 18 feet of water.

The OSP said neither speed nor alcohol are suspected as factors in the crash.

A woman who declined to give her name identified herself as the mother of one of the survivors.

She said the three men have been friends for years, and often drive four-wheel vehicles for recreation near where the accident occurred.

The woman said her son told her the truck hit a dip in the road and went out of control.

She said her son and the driver, who authorities said was Haper, passed out momentarily but were awakened by the cold water.

“My son was in the back and he tried to break out his window,” the woman said. “Then he saw the passenger-side window was open, so he climbed into the front seat and tried to pull the boy in the passenger seat out. But he was in his seat belt and he couldn’t get him loose.”

The woman said her son and the driver tried reach their friend, but were unable to because the water was too deep.

The woman said her son suffered a blow to the head and a bruised tailbone.

The driver had a cracked rib and abrasions.

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