New Year’s crash kills five, including infant

By KYLE NAGEL

A traffic investigator said the car was destroyed.

DAYTON — Alcohol was believed to be the cause of an early-morning New Year’s Day crash that claimed five lives, including an 11-month-old child, after a sedan zoomed at 90 mph on North Findlay Street, police said.

The crash, reported shortly after midnight, involved a Pontiac Grand Prix that hit the railroad tracks on North Findlay and went airborne. The car eventually came to rest on a fence in front of the NexGen Building Supply building at 450 N. Findlay St.

“It was destroyed,” said Dayton Lt. Larry Faulkner of the car.

Shawn Roush, 32, of Franklin, Trisha Roush, 33, and Dustin McDonald, 22, of Dayton, and another female whose identity has not been released were killed. While cleaning up the wreckage, police also discovered Hayden Phann, 11 months, of Bellbrook. All five were pronounced dead at the scene by 12:20 a.m., and all five remained in the car despite the jarring crash.

Shirley Neuhard, Trisha Roush’s mother, said she didn’t know the group’s plans or destinations for the evening, but she said they were out celebrating New Year’s Eve.

Trisha Roush, a mother of four sons and a daughter ranging in age from 8 to 14, was a quality assurance officer with The Children’s Group, a mail-order retail service, Neuhard said.

Shawn Roush was Trisha’s brother-in law, and Dustin McDonald was Shawn Roush’s half brother, Neuhard said. Hayden was the son of the unidentified woman, she said.

Faulkner said he and other officers couldn’t recall another Dayton auto accident in recent memory that claimed five lives.

The fence that the car struck remained mangled with wind flapping leftover police tape near noon on Thursday. The accident site, north of the railroad tracks, also contained blood and broken glass.