Coach: Wittenberg football player always had smile

Remaining 3 in fatal SUV rollover on I-75 expected to recover.

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

UPDATE @ 11:30 p.m. (June 29): Wittenberg head football coach Joe Fincham said he and the university's athletic director were with the family of 18-year-old sophomore Miles Laboy when he died at Miami Valley Hospital of injuries suffered in Monday's vehicle accident on I-75 North near Anna in Shelby County.

Fincham described Laboy, of Gaithersburg, Md., as the type of player who always had a smile on his face, even if a coach was yelling at him.

“His mom said it best,” Fincham said. “She said Miles wasn’t childish. He was child-like. I thought, ‘Man, I don’t think anybody could put it any better.’

“He had a million-dollar smile. He was a really good athlete. He started off at receiver for us. We moved him to corner. He had great success in the spring and worked really hard to improve himself, not just athletically but academically, too.”

The other players are expected to make complete recoveries. According to Fincham:

* Dorian Hunter, a Springfield High graduate, was released from the hospital Wednesday. Hunter, a passenger, was ejected in the SUV rollover, according to the Ohio Highway Patrol. He transferred to Wittenberg from the University of Findlay.

* Akili Mosley, of Los Angeles, had another surgery Wednesday but may be out of the hospital by the weekend. The former Pasadena (Calif.) City College student-athlete had just finished his first year, according to Wittenberg.

* Rashon Edwards, of Cincinnati, was supposed to be released from intensive care Wednesday and may also be released from the hospital by the weekend. The patrol said Edwards was the driver and will be cited for failure to control. The St. Xavier High School graduate had just finished his first year.

* Laboy, also ejected in the accident, had just completed his freshman year at Wittenberg, according to the university.

According to the patrol, the four were heading back to Wittenberg after spending the weekend at the Electric Forest Festival about an hour north of Grand Rapids, Mich. The three-day festival was June 23-26.

The crash happened when a sport utility vehicle, heading south at 12:30 p.m., drifted into the median and rolled several times into the northbound lanes, according to the patrol.

Edwards was the only occupant who was buckled in, according to the patrol. The crash remains under investigation, according to the patrol, but driver fatigue is suspected as a factor.

DOWNLOAD OUR FREE NEWS APPS FOR THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS