Andrew Blankenship: Pickup driver charged in Ohio triple fatal crash was released on unrelated charge in Kentucky just hours before accident
Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers' discretion is advised.
ANDERSON TOWNSHIP, OHIO: A pickup truck driver was reportedly charged in connection to a horrifying triple-fatal crash in Anderson Township on Friday, April 7, 2023. Andrew Blankenship, 29, was arrested and booked into Ohio’s Hamilton County Justice Center just hours after he was released from custody in Kentucky on bond for an unrelated charge connecting to a domestic violence probation violation earlier in the day.
The tragic crash unfolded on 275 eastbound near the 5 Mile and New Richmond exits around 9:27 pm, with police citing excessive speed and impairment leading to the killing of three people and severely injuring a victim. Andrew Blankenship has been charged with three felony counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and one count of vehicular assault and is expected to face additional charges.
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What really happened?
Authorities said Blankenship was driving a blue Dodge pickup truck at a "high rate of speed and without lights on" before he "lost control" of the vehicle and struck a tow truck that was assisting another occupied disabled car in the right emergency lane. As a result, the vehicle collided and fatally struck a tow truck driver standing outside of his vehicle on Interstate 275 a week ago.
Andrew Blankenship released on bond hours before the fatal crash
The victims have been identified as AAA tow truck driver 38-year-old Keith Skaggs, Janaya Glover, and Richard Glasser, 22 years old and 66 years old respectively, whose car was going to be towed, the Hamilton County Coroner's Office said, according to WLWT. Another victim, 25-year-old John Glover also sustained unknown injuries in the crash. Following the crash, Andrew Blankenship was transported to the UC emergency room with serious, non-life-threatening injuries.
In the wake of the deadly crash, the 29-year-old's Kentucky probation was linked to a second-degree strangulation charge in Kentucky's Campbell County. 29-year-old Andrew Blankenship was reportedly placed on a 5-year pretrial diversion in 2021.
In another incident, a truck carrying highly toxic soil polluted from East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment crashed and spilled the unstable toxic soil all over a highway on Monday, April 10. The truck was carrying 40,000 pounds of contaminated soil from the derailment site when it overturned in Columbiana County, spilling 20,000 pounds of toxic soil. However, Ohio State Highway Patrol said, "The spill was contained and is not a threat to nearby waterways."