MIAMI VALLEY — The man who police say led them on a 40-mile chase on I-75, at times going the wrong way, remains in the Warren County Jail today.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
As reported on News Center 7 at 5:00 p.m., the wrong way chase reignited concerns from state officials, and hits close to home for drivers who travel that stretch of I-75 every day.
TRENDING STORIES:
- 1 in custody after reported ICE investigation in Montgomery County
- Teacher’s aide accused of assaulting boy with autism formally charged
- Man arrested for making, trafficking narcotics in Piqua
News Center 7 previously reported that 38-year-old Joseph Hitchcock was taken into custody after leading police on a chase from Springboro all the way to Trotwood.
Ohio Department of Transportation video obtained by News Center 7 showed Hitchcock’s car turn off route 725 near the Dayton Mall and drive up the off ramp and towards on coming traffic on I-75. Somehow, no one was hurt.
Vanessa Mosely of Fairfield Township said the video of the car is all too familiar, bring back memories of a crash she witnessed on I-75 years ago returning home from vacation.
“On 75 down in Kentucky, this exact thing happened.. this has been a few years ago. A driver, and this was in the middle of the day, intentionally, got on the highway, was driving in the wrong direction, and of course, there that did not end well, there were fatalities and and it was just horrific,” Mosely said.
Preliminary numbers released by ODOT reveals that after four straight years with more than 90 wrong way crashes, there were 74 of the dangerous collision in Ohio in 2024.
The 14 fatalities resulting from those crashes were the third most in the last five years.
Mosely said the thought of someone driving towards you on the interstate is something the average driver has no was to prepare for.
“There’s nothing you can do. And your reaction time is nonexistent. So it’s very scary,” Mosely said.
ODOT has wrong way signs at all off ramps along it’s major interstates but despite the warnings the danger is real.
While ODOT says the wrong way crashes make up less than 1% of all crashes in the state, they are 40 times more likely to be deadly.
[SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
©2025 Cox Media Group
