According to a Ohio State Highway Patrol traffic crash report, a Toyota pick-up truck drove through a split lane in the construction zone shortly after 3 a.m. and crashed in a 12-foot-deep concrete ditch where the lane ended. Eight minutes later, Rice’s vehicle also went through the work zone and crashed on top of the truck, the report said.
The second crash resulted in Rice’s death. Four others including Rice’s wife, Dorothy Dixon, were injured in the accidents.
“My father was sharp when it comes to driving,” said Dion Rice of Detroit, the victim’s son.
Dion Rice said the surviving passengers told him the lane split wasn’t marked or lighted, and there was no barricade to prevent his father’s car from entering the closed construction lane. “So they went down and the next thing they know they hit the truck,” he said.
The Dayton Daily News last month reported that there were “two large gaps” between orange barrels in the work zone, according to witness accounts in the traffic crash report. In addition, the “zone called for an arrow board that was not present at the time of the crash,” the report said.
A crash reconstruction report may not be available for several months, according to the highway patrol’s Dayton post.
“We are assisting the Ohio State Highway Patrol as much as we can, but this is all still under investigation,” said Mandi Abner, an Ohio Department of Transportation spokeswoman. She declined further comment.
Rice was a grandfather who had spent part of his retirement helping to rebuild apartments on Detroit’s east side, according to his son. He enjoyed spending time with his family and traveled at least once a year to his native Alabama to visit relatives.
“He was a great guy,” said Dion Rice, 29. “It was a very loved man that was taken away from us for a crazy reason.”
Dixon, Dion’s mother, was the most seriously injured of Rice’s passengers. She returned to Michigan on Aug. 21 and is recovering at a rehabilitation facility.
“It is going to be a long process for her, but she is getting better,” he said.
Dion Rice said that his family has consulted an attorney, but he declined to discuss legal matters related to the crash.
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