MIAMI COUNTY — It’s been eight years since Katherine Hussong lost her brother-in-law after he was hit and killed by a driver in 2016.
News Center 7′s Tayler Robertson talked to Hussong about how one person’s decision to get behind the wheel after drinking left a lasting impact on her and her family.
“We just miss him a lot,” Hussong said.
Hussong lives in Laura. Her brother-in-law Lyle Hussong was killed as he was driving home from a cattle show in Texas. He was just 26 years old at the time.
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“A drunk driver from the local college was just going too fast and sort of went left of center and hit him on the side of the road, rolled his truck and that was it,” Hussong said.
Hussong said his truck flipped several times.
“As far as we know he was dead on scene,” Hussong said.
She said the drunk driver also died.
“I feel bad for his family too because they lost somebody as well because of a decision he made,” she said.
Hussong said their family took it really hard.
“His dad came and told us in the morning he wanted to make sure he went to all of the kids to their houses and told them in person after he got the news,” she said.
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Since that day, it’s been a rough few years for them.
“We just really miss his laugh. Like I said he took up a lot of space in person but also just in personality,” Hussong said.
Hussong said she wants people to take a step back before getting behind the wheel drunk.
So does Lt. Dallas Root, a commander at the Dayton Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
“We’ve called this conference today to bring light to the campaign of ‘Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over,” Root said.
The campaign is aimed at teaching people why getting behind the wheel under the influence of drugs or alcohol is putting everyone on the road in danger.
“When you look at our fatal statistics for 2023 so far out of the 55 total fatals in Montgomery County, 36 of them have been OVI related,” Root said. “That is a significant stat that is not in our favor when we look at fatal statistics because impaired driving is a major causative factor within those fatal crashes.”