BRIDGEPORT, Ohio — A man fleeing the scene of a minor crash in southeastern Ohio died after hiding in a drainage pipe beneath an interstate, reports say.
State Highway Patrol investigators and a coroner are trying to figure out what killed Chuck Dickens Jr., 26, of Huber Heights, Ohio, which is a suburb of Dayton, the Times Leader reports.
Dickens was involved in a minor two-vehicle crash on Interstate 70 at about 11 a.m. Sunday, according to the Times Leader.
The Dayton Daily News reports Dickens jumped from his vehicle as it was still moving and ran. Troopers and other police at the scene began searching for him, including using an airplane.
It was later discovered that Dickens had run down a steep hill and crawled 200 to 300 feet into a culvert underneath I-70.
Reports say Dickens responded to officers after being found but refused to come out. He later stopped responding.
A robot with a video camera was put into the culvert and it found Dickens unresponsive, face-down in the water, the Daily News reports.
He was declared dead at the scene after his body was recovered by a dive team, reports say.
State Patrol Lt. James Faunda reportedly said Dickens had no criminal record and it’s unknown why he ran from the scene. He said family members thought he was in Cleveland.
“There was no reason for him to be here,” Faunda tells the Daily News. “I’ve never seen anything like this where a person didn’t have a reason to run.”
Faunda tells the Times Leader that hypothermia might have played a role in Dickens’ death; he was in the pipe in cold water for more than six hours.
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