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Crash that killed horse, injured rider lands man in jail

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Staff Report Updated 8:24 AM Friday, March 5, 2010

HAMILTON — A Morgan Twp. man has been sentenced to 150 days in jail for a crash that left a horse dead and its rider injured on a rural road in Ross Twp.

Russell Toon, 39, of the 7900 block of Cincinnati-Brookville Road, also on Wednesday, March 3, was ordered to serve 80 hours of community service at Animal Friends Humane Society by Butler County Common Pleas Judge Craig Hedric.

He will be on probation for five years when released from the Butler County Jail.

He was charged with aggravated vehicular assault, failure to stop after an accident and operating a vehicle under the influence and pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of assault as well as the other two charges.

Denise Dawn Toon, 36, has pleaded guilty to complicity to failure to stop for an accident and obstructing justice, according to Assistant Prosecutor Brad Burress. She will be sentenced Wednesday, March 10.

In the early morning hours of Feb. 11, 2009, then 34-year-old Stephanie Crowder was riding her horse in the 2300 block of Cincinnati Brookville Road in Ross Twp. when it was struck by a sport-utility vehicle. A Butler County sheriff’s deputy found Crowder lying in the middle of the road, bleeding with a knot on her head; her horse died at the scene, according to reports.

Crowder’s injuries were serious enough that first-responders requested a medical helicopter, but it was unable to respond due to high winds, according to records.

After a lengthy investigation, authorities say that Russell Toon was driving the SUV that night, abandoned his 1997 Ford Explorer, and fled the scene .

Toon then called his wife, who was not in the vehicle at the time of the crash, said Melissa Spurlock of the prosecutor’s office.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2168 or lpack@coxohio.com.

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