May 28 — Three people riding motorcycles in Montgomery County and two teenagers in Butler and Warren counties were among 17 people killed in 14 crashes on Ohio roads over Memorial Day weekend.
The number of deaths was down from last year in Ohio, when 26 people were killed during the four-day reporting period from Friday through Monday, according to interim statistics from the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
However, the death toll was higher this year locally, with five people killed in four accidents. Last year, three people died in as many crashes over the holiday weekend: a Harrison Twp. motorcyclist and two 17-year-olds, one from Lebanon in Warren County and the other from Greenville in Darke County.
Gregory Yannekis, 43, was identified Tuesday by the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office as the motorcyclist pronounced dead at the scene of a fiery crash in West Carrollton. The crash happened just before 8 a.m. Friday on West Central Avenue and also involved an SUV, the West Carrollton Police Department said.
No additional information has been released and the accident remains under investigation.
Dayton residents Shawn Norman, 58, and Clarence Weatherby, 68, were pronounced dead at the scene of a crash shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday in Harrison Twp. who injured a woman driving an SUV.
Norman was operating a 2017 Polaris Slingshot three-wheel motorcycle south on state Route 48, with Weatherby as a passenger, when they collided with a 2011 Buick Enclave driven by 31-year-old Meleah Walker of Dayton, who was turning left onto Philadelphia Drive, according to the patrol’s Dayton Post. Walker was taken to Kettering Health Dayton with injuries described as non-life threatening.
The crash investigation is ongoing, troopers said.
Two 17-year-old passengers died after separate car crashes Sunday in Butler and Warren counties.
Briana Kaylin Tzeiranakis, a junior at Ross High School, was a passenger in a 2022 Honda Civic driven by 16-year-old Logan Webster, which left the right side of the road on a curve and struck a utility pole around 2:30 p.m. Sunday in the 4800 block of Cincinnati Brookville Road (state Route 126) between Scott Street and Alert New London Road in Morgan Twp., according to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office.
Tzeiranakis, of Morgan Twp. she was airlifted to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, where she died from her injuries. Webster, of Ross Twp., was treated at the scene. He was distracted by his passenger before the crash, according to the report filed by the sheriff’s office.
Jason Flint, of Blancchester, was pronounced dead at the scene after being ejected during the reported crash around 9:55 p.m. on Settlemyre Road, south of Wilmington Road, in Washington Twp., Warren County, according to the patrol’s Lebanon Post .
A 19-year-old Clarksville woman, Brittney Shockley, was driving a 2008 Mazda MX-5 when she went off the left side of the road on a curve and then crossed the road and went off to the right and overturned, ejecting Flint and a 15-year-old passenger who was not was wearing a seat belt, police said.
Shockley and the 15-year-old suffered injuries that were not life-threatening and were taken to area hospitals for treatment.
Both crashes remain under investigation.
During the four-day reporting period, officers made 19,104 traffic enforcement contacts, including 361 impaired driving arrests, 61 drug arrests, 2,662 seat belt citations and 1,090 distracted driving citations. Additionally, the patrol made 9,779 non-police contacts, including 1,950 motorist assistances.
Drivers are encouraged to call 677, if it is safe and legal to do so, to report drug activity and dangerous or impaired driving.
For a statewide breakdown of enforcement and crashes during the Memorial Day holiday weekend, click here.
——
Memorial Day weekend traffic deaths
2024 2023
Butler County 1 0
Darke County 0 1
Montgomery County 3 1
Warren County 1 1
Ohio 17 26
