Franklin police Chief Russ Whitman said Franklin officers and the State Highway Patrol are investigating the fatal crash. Whitman said the male driver stopped and cooperated with police. Whitman said it doesn’t appear speed or impairment were factors.
“It could be just a nasty accident,” he said.
When the investigation is complete, police will decide whether to present charges to the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office, Whitman said.
He said the initial investigation revealed a vehicle traveling south on Deardoff Road hit Bryant between Second Street and Virginia Avenue, police said. Whitman said she may have been returning to her home after getting the mail. Franklin police and fire and EMS responded to the accident.
Bryant was taken to Atrium Medical Center in Middletown and flown to Miami Valley Hospital.
The coroner’s office performed an autopsy Monday morning, but the cause and manner of death were not released Monday.
In 2018, the number of U.S. pedestrian deaths was the highest in nearly 30 years.
From 2013 to 2018, there were 429 pedestrian-involved accidents in Butler County and 109 in Warren County, according to the State Highway Patrol. Of those, 26 were fatal in Butler and six were fatal in Warren, according to OSP statistics reviewed by the Journal-News.
In Ohio, more than 130 pedestrians were killed and 2,600 injured statewide in 2018, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation. That’s down from 2017 when there were 145 pedestrian fatalities. But prior to that, it was up every year since 2013, when 88 pedestrians were killed in Ohio.
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