A Bellefontaine man was cited after allegedly driving the wrong way on a one-way street, striking a parked vehicle, and leaving the scene early Saturday morning.
According to the Bellefontaine Police Department, officers were dispatched to the 300 block of South Detroit Street shortly after 7:20 a.m. Saturday, on a report of a hit-and-run crash that had happened several hours earlier.
Police say a 2018 Honda CR-V was legally parked on the west side of South Detroit Street north of Buckingham Avenue when it was struck by a northbound 2007 Dodge Charger traveling the wrong way on the one-way street.
The impact caused extensive damage to the Honda and pushed it approximately 20 feet into a grassy area.
The vehicle’s passenger-side mirror also struck a street sign.
Wren’s Towing removed the damaged SUV from the scene.
A resident told officers he was awakened around 2:40 a.m. by a loud crash and looked outside to see a dark-colored vehicle stopped in front of the residence, facing northbound in the southbound-only lanes.
At the time, the damage had not yet been discovered.
Initially, the driver and vehicle responsible were unknown.
However, officers followed a trail of leaking oil from the crash scene through several city streets, eventually leading them toward Oakland Square.
Investigators then reviewed surveillance footage, which showed a gray Dodge Charger with significant front-end damage traveling through the city shortly after the crash.
Later Saturday afternoon, officers located the damaged Charger behind a residence on North Main Street and identified the owner as 25-year-old Larry Blosser.
According to the report, Blosser initially told officers he had been involved in a head-on crash while driving home from Urbana and claimed the other driver left the scene.
He said he did not report the crash because he did not have insurance.
Police advised Blosser that surveillance video showed his vehicle entering Bellefontaine without damage and later driving through the city with heavy front-end damage after the crash.
Officers also informed him that his vehicle had struck the parked Honda while traveling the wrong way on South Detroit Street.
Blosser told officers he did not remember the crash and suggested the deployment of his vehicle’s airbags may have affected his memory.
He acknowledged that he was the only person in the vehicle at the time.
Blosser was cited for hit-and-run, failure to control, and driving the wrong direction on a one-way street.
He was ordered to appear in Bellefontaine Municipal Court on June 24.
