FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP — The Mansfield Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol has forwarded to the Mansfield Law Director’s office its report of an accident that killed a Richland County Highway Dept. worker.
Attorneys in Law Director Rollie Harper’s office would make the decision regarding any charges to be filed in the case.
Trenton Gallaway, 20, of Lucas died on Oct. 2 when he was struck by a vehicle during a road berm maintenance effort on Bowman Street Road.
According to the Mansfield Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Gallaway was outside of a highway department vehicle when he was struck by a vehicle trying to pass on the left at about 2:24 p.m.
Richland Source obtained a copy of the accident report Thursday through a public records request.
The 10-page accident report said Delana Kunz, 43 of Shelby, was driving a 2019 white Nissan Rogue SUV southeast on Bowman Street Road, south of Myers Road, when the vehicle collided with Gallaway.
Gallaway was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Richland County Coroner’s Office.
The accident occurred on a level stretch of blacktop road in dry conditions on a clear day, according to the report.
Kunz told troopers she had just left work in Shelby and was headed to a grocery store on Ashland Road. She estimated she was traveling 40 miles per hour in a 50-mile-per-hour zone.
“Ms. Kunz told me she turned into Bowman Street Road from Taylortown Road and noticed a warning sign for road construction, but didn’t see anyone around,” the trooper said in the accident report.
She told troopers she continued south and saw the work truck parked in the southbound lane. Kunz told the patrol she saw flashing lights on the truck, but didn’t see anyone around the vehicle.
Kunz, who said she was alone in her vehicle, said she began to pass the truck since there was no oncoming traffic. She told troopers Gallaway came from the front of the truck.
“I asked Ms. Kunz if he was walking towards her vehicle or running and she told me he was running,” the report said.
“Ms. Kunz told me she attempted to brake and swerve to the left, but struck Mr. Gallaway,” according to the trooper’s report.
On Oct. 3, a resident contacted the patrol and said she went through the same construction zone around 10:30 a.m.
“She said she was concerned the flagman at the north end of the zone only had a red flag and not a stop-and-go sign like the flagman at the south end of the zone,” the trooper write.
The OSHP report said Gallaway was wearing a light green traffic safety vest at the time of the accident.
There was nothing in the report to indicate Kunz was distracted in any way prior to the accident.
Kunz was not injured in the accident, according to the report.
