A Franklin County grand jury has indicted a 67-year-old Galloway man on a charge after he allegedly struck a bicyclist on southwest Columbus's Eakin Road and drove away without stopping. Ricardo Sanchez was indicted on one count of failure to stop after an accident, stemming from a November 4, 2025 crash that left the cyclist ejected onto the roadway.
According to 10TV, the bicyclist was riding westbound on Eakin Road approaching Midland Avenue, with the flow of traffic, when Sanchez's 2005 Ford E-350 Econoline van struck them. Columbus police say the van had been turning from the southbound lane of Midland Avenue into the westbound lanes of Eakin Road while headed eastbound. After the impact, the Ford continued eastbound on Eakin Road, and Sanchez did not stay at the scene, according to police.
The bicyclist was ejected onto the roadway, per the police report, and was later transported to Grant Medical Center, where the cyclist was treated for injuries. Grant Medical Center operates as the busiest adult Level I Trauma Center in central Ohio, according to OhioHealth, with dedicated 24-hour trauma bays and specialized emergency surgical teams on hand around the clock.
What Ohio Law Says About Hit-Skip Charges
Under Ohio Revised Code § 4549.02, failing to stop after a crash on a public road that results in serious physical harm is classified as a fifth-degree felony rather than a misdemeanor, per Ohio law. Standard hit-skip collisions involving only property damage are typically charged as first-degree misdemeanors in the state.
If convicted, Sanchez could face penalties under Ohio law, according to Jwayyed Law LLC. A conviction would also trigger a mandatory Class Five driver's license suspension ranging from six months to three years, with judges barred by statute from waiving or suspending the first six months, per Smith Law. Franklin County Common Pleas Court documents identify the case, according to Conaway and Shaw.
The bicyclist was traveling westbound with traffic, according to the report. The article also cites bicycle guidance from the Ohio Department of Transportation.
A Dangerous Stretch of Eakin Road
Sanchez was set to be arraigned Monday, though his next court date has not yet been scheduled, per 10TV's reporting. The crash adds to a troubling pattern along the 2300 and 2400 blocks of Eakin Road, which have seen multiple severe non-motorist collisions in recent years, including a July 2023 crash that critically injured a bicyclist and a February crash that critically injured a pedestrian, as Hoodline previously reported in its coverage of a truck-child collision on the same corridor.
A separate tally counted 2,749 pedestrian crashes over five years through mid-2026. The City of Columbus runs a Vision Zero initiative aimed at eliminating traffic fatalities and severe injuries, targeting infrastructure redesigns along its High Injury Network where cyclists and pedestrians face elevated collision risks, per the City of Columbus.
The Eakin Road case involved a cyclist and a driver who allegedly left the scene.
