PREBLE COUNTY, Ohio — Two people, including a Preble County sheriff’s deputy, are dead after crashing head-on early Monday morning, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
The crash happened on state Route 503 in Gratis Township around 4:10 a.m. OSHP says deputy Joshua Hamilton, 34, who was working road patrol, was heading southbound in a marked cruiser while 36-year-old Michael Gayhart II was heading northbound.
The two vehicles collided head-on.
Both men were pronounced dead at the scene. There were no passengers in either vehicle.
According to the sheriff’s office, Hamilton has been working in Preble County since May 2022 and had previously served in the United States Navy Reserve. He was serving in the United States Army National Guard when he died.
He is survived by his parents and his 10-year-old daughter, the sheriff’s office wrote in a Facebook post.
The crash remains under investigation.
In honor of Gayhart and Hamilton, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has ordered that flags of the United States and state of Ohio be flown at half-staff at all public buildings and grounds through Preble County, the statehouse, Vern Riffe Center and Rhodes State Office Tower. The flags will remain lowered until the day of the second of the two funerals.
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