Enon man indicted in hit-and-run OVI crash involving motorcyclist in Miamisburg

Credit: Montgomery County Jail

Credit: Montgomery County Jail

An Enon man indicted Friday is accused of driving while drunk and hitting a motorcyclist in Miamisburg on his way to a strip club.

Robert Lewis Elswick III, 34, was issued a summons Sept. 30 for his arraignment in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court for aggravated vehicular assault, failure to stop after an accident and two misdemeanor counts of operating a vehicle while under the influence.

Police and medics were called just before 1 a.m. Sept. 7 to state Route 725 at the Imperial Road intersection after a sport-utility vehicle struck a motorcyclist and then left.

The motorcyclist was seriously injured in the crash. His left leg was broken in several places and required surgery to place plates and screws into bone. The victim also suffered a bruised lung, cracked ribs, a dislocated hip, three stitches on his forehead, road rash and had to be hospitalized, according to an affidavit filed in Miamisburg Municipal Court.

At the crash scene, the SUV’s maroon front bumper was left behind, and police learned the suspect was headed to Cheeks Gentleman’s Club in West Carrollton and alerted police there, the affidavit stated.

West Carrollton police spotted the SUV — a maroon Chevrolet Trailblazer with front-end damage — on Watertower Lane, which is the street Cheeks is on, and pulled over the driver, identified as Elswick, police said.

An officer asked Elswick whether he remembered striking a motorcyclist, to which he replied: “No I do not. I turned out right onto the thing and I hit something but I don’t know what I hit,” according to the affidavit.

Elswick agreed to submit to field sobriety tests and a breath test, which recorded a blood-alcohol content of 0.195, which is more than twice Ohio’s 0.08 legal driving limit, records showed.

Police investigation found that Elswick went to a Shell gas station at 123 Byers Road in Miamisburg near the crash site and went inside to buy cigarettes and withdraw cash before the crash. Store surveillance footage showed Elswick had difficulty standing still while at the ATM and appears to have trouble at the register.

“While in line, he drops an item. While purchasing the cigarettes, he has difficulty operating the credit card reader for his credit card and the clerk had to provide instructions to him to properly use it. During this change, Robert nearly falls into the Plexiglas divider,” the affidavit stated.

Elswick is no longer in the Montgomery County Jail after posting 10% of a $100,000 bond, Miamisburg court records show.

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