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LEBANON — The man accused of killing a beloved mentor and volunteer educator in a car accident Thursday should not have been behind the wheel of a vehicle, police said.
Doug Allison, 42, 1375, N. Ohio 48, Lebanon is accused of causing the death of Mary Wells, 65, of Oregonia after his SUV hit Wells’s red Nissan Ultima from behind.
Allison has an extensive driving and criminal record, dating back 20 years, and at the time of the accident was driving under a suspended license, according to court and Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles records.
Wells and Allison were driving north on U.S. 42 around 6:43 p.m. when Allison’s white Ford Explorer struck the rear of Wells car with such force that the car spun around and Allison’s vehicle flipped over and on top of the car and then it rolled off, according to Lebanon police Sgt. Rick Bens.
Both were trapped in the vehicles and were extricated by the Lebanon Fire Division, police said. Wells was transported by helicopter to Miami Valley Hospital where she died from injuries.
Allison, whose license was suspended indefinitely in October 2008, was treated and released from Atrium Medical Center in Middletown, Bens said.
He was charged with vehicular homicide and driving under suspension and is in the Warren County jail on a $100,000 bond set by Lebanon Municipal Judge Mark R. Bogen.
Records show Allison had multiple license suspensions for not paying auto insurance dating back to 2000. He also had drug-related suspensions in 2000, a suspension for failing to file an accident report in 1996, and suspensions in Kansas and Texas dating back to 1988, according to BMV records.
Allison also was convicted on felony theft, aggravated assault and drug charges in the past 10 years and spent more than three years in prison, according to Warren County court records. He will appear in court on Monday.
On Friday, an outpouring of support for Wells was shown in the Lebanon community.
“She was an angel on Earth,” said Becky Hill, curriculum director at Bowman Elementary who worked with her for 15 years.
Wells operated the East Ridge Homework Club, an informal after-school program working with all grade levels to help students keep focused on school work. Wells operated the club for more than 20 years and even saw one of the members of the club gain admission to Yale University.
The club also served as an after school meeting place for neighborhood children. Wells and other volunteers would help with homework, provide a snack and give the kids other activities. Wells would arrange field trips as rewards for kids who achieved high marks.
“Her philosophy was zero percent teen pregnancy, zero percent drug use, and 100 percent graduation,” Hill said.
Hill said Wells had been at Bowman elementary earlier Thursday collecting names and numbers of children for the new school year.
The homework club originally grew out of a girl scout project Wells was working on with her daughters.
“She saw a need to provide support and provide a safe place for Lebanon children,” said Esther Larson, of the Lebanon school board.
“Mary never talked about why she did it,” Hill said. “It was never about her. She did it to help the kids.”
Melissa Baruhdi, who lived near Wells’ club on Eastridge Drive, fought back tears as she tied purple ribbons on trees in front of the club’s building, a converted two-story home. Baruhdi credited Wells’s with helping her son Mathew get accepted into the University of Cincinnati where he is now a junior, and working with her daughter Ashley, a junior at Lebanon High School.
“She starts with them when they are little and gets them all the way through college,” Baruhdi said. “She always found a way to get through to them.”
Baruhdi remembers Wells taking extra time to work with a child afflicted with autism who also lived on the block.
“He wouldn’t speak to people and she would spend every weekend working with him,” Baruhdi said. “Now, he’s made so much progress. He came a long way because of Mary.”
Funeral services for Wells are pending. Family and friends will hold a candlelight vigil at 7:30 tonight, Oct. 15, on East Ridge Drive in the neighborhood where Wells volunteered her time.
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