An 18-year-old Cincinnati man has been apprehended following a catastrophic incident that claimed the life of a passenger in West Price Hill, as per local authorities and court records.
Last Wednesday night, Abelardo Mendez was allegedly at the wheel of a 2016 Chevrolet Equinox and was accused of losing control of the vehicle due to excessive speed on West 8th Street. This resulted in a violent collision with a stationary dump truck, a scene so catastrophic that the victim, whose identity is yet to be revealed by the Hamilton County Coroner's Office, necessitated extrication from the wreckage and was regrettably declared deceased on site, according to a statement obtained by FOX19.
In the aftermath of the collision, Mendez was charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, and a Hamilton County judge set a $100,000 bond, as WLWT reported. Not only was speed a factor, but Mendez was also operating the vehicle without a valid driver's license at the time of the accident.
Local authorities have turned to the visual testimony of a home surveillance camera that captured the high-speed impact, shedding unforgiving light on the tragic sequence of events. Mendez, sustaining severe but non-life-threatening injuries himself, was transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center soon after the crash and was later booked into the Hamilton County jail on the preceding Sunday afternoon, detailed by LOCAL12.
