OxfordPress.com

WAYNE TWP. — A semi-truck driver hauling a trailer full of beer died after his vehicle flipped on its side and struck a tree on Ohio 73 Wednesday morning, July 9.

The tops of the truck's cab and the trailer were shorn off by the impact, spilling boxes of Miller Genuine Draft in the grass beside the road.

Michael Scheidler, 41, of Coldwater, Mich., was apparently driving west on Ohio 73 from the Miller Brewing plant in Trenton when he lost control of the truck, which slid off the north side of the road and left tracks in the grass for about 50 feet before striking a Sycamore tree.

"I didn't even hear it," said Kenna Carozza, who lives on the stretch of Ohio 73 where the crash occurred. "I just happened to look up and I thought, 'Is that a truck in my front yard?'"

Carozza, who works as an intensive care nurse, ran to get her CPR mask but was delayed from approaching Scheidler by the steam or smoke coming from the engine. He died by the time she felt it was safe to approach, she said.

Ohio 73 was shut down between for more than two hours between Ohio 503 and Cotton Run Road while the Butler County sheriff's and coroner's offices investigated.

Sgt. Jeff Gebhart said this was the first fatal crash of the year for the sheriff's office, which has seen an unprecedented drop in crashes this year. Gebhart said the number of crashes usually fluctuates about two percentage points a year and attributed the drop to high gas prices.

"Our accidents are down 30 percent from last year," he said. "People are driving less."

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2511 or dwells@coxohio.com.