Butler County Sheriff's Office

[Public Info Officer]

For Immediate Release…. March 11, 2006


Double Fatality Crash in Morgan Township

Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones reports Deputies and Emergency Fire and Rescue Personnel from Morgan Township, Ross Township, and Millville all responded to a two-vehicle crash on State Route 126 in Morgan Township around 9:25 this morning. Gerald A. Hahn, age 19, of Green Drive, Fairfield, OH, was driving a 1996 Mustang southeast on State Route 126, just west of the intersection with Morgan-Ross Road. He lost control, sliding left of center and sideways across the northwest lane of travel, and into the path of an oncoming 2002 Chevy Pickup truck, driven by Walter Westridge, age 54, of Race Lane, Okeana.

Hahn was transported by life squad to Fort Hamilton Hospital, where he was pronounced dead from his injuries. A passenger in the Mustang, 26-year-old Shannon King, from Cleves, OH, was pronounced dead at the scene. A third occupant of the Mustang, 14-year-old Victoria Dickens, was transported by squad to Children’s Hospital in Cncinnati.

Westridge and his two passengers, a grandson, age 5, and a granddaughter, age 3, were all taken by squad to Fort Hamilton Hospital. The grandchildren were later transported to Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati.

The crash remains under investigation by the Sheriff’s Office Traffic Investigations Unit and the Butler County Coroner’s Office. The preliminary investigation indicates that weather conditions may have contributed to the cause of the crash.


Prepared by: Det. Monte Mayer
Public Information Officer