U.S. 35 manhole: Dispatch records unveil new details about cover blamed in serious crash

DAYTON — Newly obtained City of Dayton Water Department records show the department first responded to issues with a manhole on U.S. 35 near Smithville Road after a Christmas Eve crash that seriously hurt a 10-year-old girl.

Issues with the cover were first reported Christmas Eve around 8:20 a.m. when a truck driver spotted the cover was not over the manhole. Dispatch records from Montgomery County Regional Dispatch showed that a police officer reported fixing the manhole, however the city water department never responded to the scene.

>>PREVIOUS REPORT: ‘Worst Christmas ever,’ 10-year-old seriously hurt after manhole cover on U.S. 35 hits family van

Just hours later around 10:45 a.m., 10-year-old Alonna Thomas was hurt when the van she was riding in drove over the manhole, sending the sewer lid through the floorboard of the van.

After the crash, the city water department reported on Dec. 24 it “placed a new lid on the catch basin.” The case was noted that there would be follow-up with a supervisor on Dec. 27 “for a lid that locks” and the worker noted it was “made safe for now,” according to water department dispatch records.

The left lane of the highway remained open following the Dec. 24 crash, until the city of Dayton blocked the left lane of the highway after the manhole cover was found to be missing again Dec. 28 around 8 a.m.

“We just got report from one of our supervisors on Route 35 west of Smithville...a couple days ago there was a manhole lid that caused a traffic accident,” a City of Dayton Water Department dispatcher told the Montgomery County Regional Dispatch Center around 8 a.m. Tuesday. “That manhole lid is missing again. Could we get an officer out there to block that area until we can get a crew out there, so that it does not cause another accident?”

It was at that point that dispatch records from the water department showed that the problem was “not city issue, contractor taking responsibility for manhole lid.”

>> Manhole inspections finished after girl seriously hurt in crash; work to fix issue starts next week

The lane with the manhole was shut down to drivers and two days later ODOT said it was working with the city to determine what led to the incident.

“ODOT was first notified of any issue on U.S. 35 after the crash had occurred. Since ODOT is administering a construction project at this location, we are working with the City of Dayton to determine what led to this incident,” said Matt Bruning, press secretary at ODOT.

City of Dayton water department records showed that the manhole had an old lid in a new casting, but had been welded and secured.

ODOT said repairs on the manhole would happen this week “to permanently enclose any that are in the travel lane.”

On Tuesday, both east and westbound lanes of U.S. 35 at Smithville Road remained closed while the repairs are made.

Following the Christmas Eve crash, another woman contacted police a second time saying she believed what she hit in the highway the day before Christmas Eve also was the manhole cover.

>>2nd woman reports hitting manhole on U.S. 35 prior to Christmas Eve crash injuring girl

“I was driving, talking, next thing I know, it sounded like I hit a boulder or a brick wall, I don’t know. It jerked our car to the right,” said Emily Tucker of Beavercreek. She was driving on U.S. 35 west around 5 p.m. that day before Christmas Eve when she said she hit something on the highway.

Tucker said a police officer never came to her on the highway after her vehicle was disabled. Dispatch records show that a State Farm Freeway Safety Vehicle was sent to the scene.

“I’m not sure what that was about,” Tucker told News Center 7′s Haley Kosik. “And come to find out, I hear of a story of this girl who broke her legs on Christmas Eve morning and I feel like, had a policeman dispatched to the proper location and fix the situation, this could have saved her legs honestly.”

Tucker contacted police again Dec. 28 to file a report with police about her incident.

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