By Charlotte Caldwell
FORT LORAMIE – A Piqua man died after an attempted traffic stop on Saturday, Sept. 9.
According to the incident report, at around 2:45 a.m., Shelby County Sheriff’s Deputy Christopher VanMeter was on patrol in Fort Loramie. He was parked in the 100 block of South Main Street (state Route 66) watching traffic when his radar clocked a black Ford Mustang traveling southbound at 54 mph in a 35 mph zone. VanMeter activated his overhead lights to initiate a traffic stop, and the vehicle accelerated and gained to the point where VanMeter could barely make out the taillights of the vehicle.
VanMeter continued into Newport to make sure the vehicle did not crash on the road’s curves when he observed utility lines down and vehicle debris in the roadway. The vehicle was found in the right ditch. The passenger, identified as Gage Mikael Behr, 20, of Piqua, was outside of the car when deputies arrived. The driver, identified as Sean Michael Brading, 18, of Piqua, was still sitting in the driver’s seat. The vehicle started smoking and deputies broke the window so they could pull Brading from the vehicle. They attached an AED to Brading before Fort Loramie Rescue arrived to take over care.
When VanMeter looked at the crash scene, it showed Brading failed to negotiate the curve in the roadway and went off the left side of the road, striking a utility pole. The vehicle then continued in the ditch and struck a concrete block before reentering the roadway, then continued off the right side of the road, striking a mailbox and a tree.
Brading and Behr were taken by Fort Loramie Rescue to Wilson Health. According to Shelby County Sheriff Jim Frye, there was fog that night and CareFlight couldn’t fly. After being transported to Wilson, Brading was transported to Miami Valley Hospital. At some point, Brading died from his injuries.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol is handling the crash.
