The crash was reported a little after 1 a.m. Sunday on I-70 in Huber Heights.
Initial investigation found that a 55-year-old man, later identified as Doniell Snow, drove a 2016 Chevrolet Tahoe up the exit ramp at Ohio 201, going west into the oncoming eastbound traffic, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said.
The SUV first hit a 2019 Honda Accord that was preparing to take the exit onto Ohio 201. The Honda driver tried to avoid the SUV by changing lanes, but the Tahoe change as well and crashed into the car. The Accord spun out of control and hit the concrete barrier.
According to the sheriff’s office, the SUV then continued the wrong way down I-70 for about half a mile, reaching speeds up to 80 mph, before crashing head-on into a 2020 Chevrolet Trax.
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Chief of Staff Jeremy Roy said, “But understand, that’s 80 mph going the wrong way toward somebody else doing the speed limit (at 65 mph). You can imagine the change in energy and force when you get hit head-on by that; it’s going to be fatal every single time.”
The crash caused the Trax to catch fire almost immediately.
The SUV continued to crash into a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu.
Several 911 callers reported the crash and seeing burning vehicles. One said they saw the first crash after the SUV passed them on the exit ramp, saying that the SUV then went over into the left lanes and continued down the highway.
Another caller said she saw a person on fire that got out of one of the burning vehicles, then rolled on the ground to put out the flames.
Snow, Vince and Daly were all declared dead on scene.
Medics took the driver of the Malibu to Miami Valley Hospital with serious injuries. As of Tuesday, the driver remained in critical condition.
A driver and a passenger in the Accord suffered minor injuries and were released from the scene.
Roy said the crash left a “mile-and-a-half or longer” field of debris leaving veteran officers “taken aback” by the damage.
“There’s two cars completely engulfed in flames, one that’s disabled, and the Tahoe that’s not just on fire but in half. Then, we’ve got engines and transmissions sitting on the highway,” he said. “When I say this was catastrophic, I don’t know how else to describe it.”
Investigations into the Tahoe driver’s actions in the hours leading up to the crash found that alcohol may have been a factor, Roy said.
“Based on social media posts and video evidence, we have been able to track the at-fault driver to a local bar prior to the crash,” Roy said. “We’re in the process of tracking down anybody that was at the bar with the at-fault driver to determine his behavior and state of mind leading up to the crash.”
The motivation of the crash is still unclear, though at least one witness said they believed the driver was intentionally trying to crash into oncoming traffic.
