The vehicle was eastbound when two of its tires went off the road, and “then, when when he came back up, he slid off to the left of the road,” said Hamilton Police Sgt. Rich Burkhardt. I t slid off the road, into a ditch and hit a telephone pole, snapping it in half around 2 a.m.
Smith was trapped in the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene. Butler County’s crash reconstruction team responded to investigate.
The city utilities department had to use large trucks to repair the pole, and had to shut the road several hours between Mourning Dove Lane and Gateway Avenue.
Hamilton police said crashes in that area don’t happen often.