Late Monday morning, Seth Tieger, an assistant Hamilton County prosecutor assigned as a special prosecutor in the case, recommended that Trooper Jacob Daymon, 30, be charged with failure to maintain assured cleared distance -- a misdemeanor.
A Greene County grand jury had declined to indict Daymon on felony charges.
In the Aug. 17 crash, Daymon was driving his state patrol cruiser when he rear-ended Corey and Amy Waldman of Beavercreek, who were on a black 1998 Harley Davidson headed west on U.S. 35 in Jasper Twp. The Waldmans, who were taken to Miami Valley Hospital, were wearing helmets. They have since been released from the hospital.
According to a supplemental incident report filed with the case, Corey Waldman told state patrol investigators on Aug. 20, "I heard the sound, then impact. I didn't see the lights until I was hit." Waldman said he and his wife had just left his sister-in-law's residence and were headed to get coffee. He said he was traveling at 57 mph when the cruiser rear-ended their motorcycle.
Trooper Daymon, in that same supplemental incident report, told a supervisor he was on his way to the patrol's Xenia post when he was dispatched on a report of a pedestrian walking on U.S. 35, near the Jamestown exit. After checking the area, Daymon radioed to dispatch that he was unable to locate the pedestrian.
Daymon told the supervisor that he was in the process of using his mobile command terminal, a laptop mounted between the front seats, to manually clearing himself from the incident when he struck the motorcycle.
A sergeant dispatched to the accident said in the report that Daymon was "visibly shaken and emotionally distraught. He kept asking over and over if 'they,' the motorcycle riders, were going to be OK." The sergeant said Daymon was told that emergency medical crews would take care of the people from the motorcycle.
Daymon "stated he never saw the motorcycle until the riders were striking the windshield," according to the supplemental incident report.
About the Author