In a release, the prosecutor’s office said that on April 2, 2023, Sperry was driving northbound on I-71 at 124 mph when he crashed into the back of a small SUV.
According to a crash report, the SUV flipped over, went off the right side of the road, flipped “several more times” and crashed into a ditch.
Shirley Fay Coletta, 76, of Cincinnati was in the SUV with her daughter Patricia Jump, 54, of Anderson Twp. Coletta was pronounced dead at the scene, while Jump suffered serious injuries and was taken to Bethesda North Hospital by emergency crews from Deerfield Twp.
The report said Sperry was under the influence of alcohol, benzodiazepines, cannabinoids and cocaine at the time of the crash. The prosecutor’s office said that blood tests found he was more than six times over the legal limit for marijuana.
Sperry sustained suspected minor injuries in the crash, the report said.
Fornshell thanked Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers Jacob Kunka and Christopher Krantz, as well as Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kevin Hardman, Victim Witness Coordinator Erika Bourelle and legal assistants Brenda Berry and Jaclyn Zaczek for their work on the case.
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