MANSFIELD — A $2,500 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the motorist in a hit/skip accident involving an SUV and a bicycle on Wednesday morning.
The accident, which injured award-winning Source reporter Dillon Carr, occurred on Marion Avenue between Home and Trimble roads around 7:45 a.m.
The reward has been offered by Carl Fernyak, founder and CEO of Source Media. Anyone with information should contact Trooper Drew Nelson with the Mansfield Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol at 419-756-2222.
Nelson said Saturday morning he had few leads regarding the accident, but planned to check with a business in the area whose outside security cameras may have recorded cars in the area.
Carr was near the end of an 18-mile bicycle ride on Wednesday morning and was headed to his home in the Woodland neighborhood of Mansfield. He exited the Richland B&O Bike Trail and turned east onto Marion Avenue when he was struck.
“A couple cars passed me. I have ridden on that road countless times and it’s always sort of busy,” the 29-year-old said. “People often drive fast there and it was at the forefront of my mind to be conscientious and stay to the right.
“I had just crested a hill and was making my way to the next one when all of a sudden I hear a crunch and I am flying through the air,” Carr said.
A newer model slate gray Toyota Highlander SUV had crashed into him, sending Carr flying onto the ground with enough force it knocked one of his shoes off.
“The car put on its brakes and looked like it was stopping, even turning around. I was angry, I knew something was wrong with my shoulder, I was holding it in place. I was looking for my phone. I was looking for my shoe. My bike was a crumpled mess.
“I didn’t really look that hard at the driver. I thought for sure this person would stop and try to help. But it just turned around and drove past me in the complete opposite direction it had been going,” said Carr, an Ontario High School graduate who grew up in the area.
By the time he realized the SUV was not stopping, it was too late for him to see the license plate.
Carr was treated at OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital for a rare posterior shoulder dislocation, a compressed fracture of his T-11 vertebra near the base of his spine and “some really gnarly road rash” on the left side of his body.
He has appointments in the coming days to see a neurologist and orthopedic doctor to follow up on the spine injury.
Carr was fitted with a sling he will wear for the next week or so and was advised by doctors to avoid lifting and strenuous physical activity for awhile due to the spinal fracture.