An 85-year-old man has died after a rear-end crash on Millikin Road in Fairfield Township that began when a line of cars slowed to let police cruisers pass with lights and sirens blaring. Logan Stone was driving a 2019 Acura RDX with his 85-year-old wife, Donna B. Stone, in the front passenger seat when a Lincoln Navigator failed to stop in time and struck the back of their car. Stone died early Sunday morning, more than a day after the crash.
According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Fairfield Township officers were dispatched around 2:53 p.m. on Aug. 29 to a call for an unconscious person and were traveling eastbound on Millikin Road toward Greatus Drive with emergency lights and sirens activated. Multiple westbound vehicles, including Stone's Acura, slowed and moved over to the right side of the lane to let the cruisers pass. A trailing Lincoln Navigator, driven by 43-year-old Trent D. McFadden of Liberty Township, did not stop in time and struck the rear of Stone's Acura, according to OdaysObitNews.
The impact sent the Acura spinning into a yard on the north side of Millikin Road, while the Lincoln rolled and came to rest a couple of driveways down the road, with its airbags deployed, per the Enquirer's account. All three occupants — Stone, his wife, and McFadden — were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash.
A Critical Injury Turns Fatal Overnight
Emergency crews initially transported Stone, his wife, and the Lincoln's driver to UC West Chester Hospital. Stone, listed in critical condition, was then airlifted by AirCare to University of Cincinnati Medical Center in Cincinnati, where he was pronounced dead at approximately 4:30 a.m. Sunday, the same OdaysObitNews report states. His wife and McFadden were both listed in stable condition, according to the Enquirer. Emergency responders from both Fairfield Township and Liberty Township assisted at the scene, per the obituary outlet's reporting.
As of early Sunday afternoon, no arrests had been reported in connection with the crash, the Enquirer noted. The investigation is being handled by the Fairfield Township Police Department in partnership with the Butler County Serious Traffic Accident Reconstruction Team, known as S.T.A.R.T., a multi-agency unit that combines personnel from the Butler County Sheriff's Office and local police departments to investigate fatal and complex crashes across the county, according to a Fairfield Township Police Department post. The crash remains under investigation as that reconstruction unit works to complete its technical findings, which will help determine whether charges are eventually filed.
What Ohio Law Says About Rear-End Crashes and Yielding for Cruisers
Ohio law requires drivers to maintain an assured clear distance ahead and stop safely before striking a vehicle in the same lane, a standard laid out in Ohio Revised Code Section 4511.21(A); violations are typically charged as a minor misdemeanor carrying fines up to $150 plus court costs, per the Law Office of C.F. Cowan. Separately, state law under Ohio Revised Code Section 4511.213 requires motorists to shift lanes or slow down when approaching vehicles with activated emergency lights, the exact scenario that preceded the Millikin Road crash. Proposed legislation known as House Bill 132, introduced this year, would raise penalties for Move Over violations that cause fatal crashes to as much as $10,000 with license suspensions, according to the Statehouse News Bureau.
Butler County's Fatal Crash Trends and Road Safety Investments
Butler County recorded 27 fatal traffic crashes in 2025, a slight decline from 32 in 2024 and 30 in 2023, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol's Statistical Analysis Unit. Statewide, Ohio saw 1,037 fatal traffic crashes in 2025, marking the fourth consecutive annual decrease in traffic deaths, per Kruger & Hodges Hometown Injury Lawyers. The Butler County Engineer's Office has prioritized safety upgrades along the Millikin Road corridor in recent years, including roundabout installations at its intersections with Lesourdsville West Chester Road and Morris Road, work highlighted by the County Engineers Association of Ohio.
The Millikin Road crash marks the latest in a string of fatal collisions the Fairfield Township Police Department and S.T.A.R.T. have investigated together this year. In a June crash near Walden Ponds, a 29-year-old motorcyclist was killed on State Route 4 when a vehicle turned into oncoming traffic. Elsewhere in Butler County, S.T.A.R.T. also investigated a fatal Hanover Township crash in mid-August in which a car flipped and hit a pole on Morman Road.
