Preble County deputies are investigating a hit-and-run crash in which a semi-tractor trailer struck two parked commercial vehicles in a travel center parking lot Sunday morning and left the scene, WHIO-TV reported, citing the Preble County Sheriff’s Office.
Crews were called to the TA Travel Center parking lot in Preble County around 6:46 a.m. Sunday, according to WHIO’s report. When deputies arrived, they learned a semi that had been parked in the congested lot was attempting to exit, a spokesperson for the Preble County Sheriff’s Office told WHIO.
While maneuvering out of the lot, the driver struck a parked dump truck, pushing it into another parked semi, the sheriff’s office told WHIO. The dump truck sustained heavy front-end damage, and its fuel tank was ruptured in the collision, causing diesel fuel to leak onto the ground.
After the crash, the driver of the first semi left without stopping, heading southbound on North U.S. Route 127, according to the sheriff’s office account reported by WHIO. No injuries were reported in WHIO’s account of the crash.
The spill brought a cleanup response alongside the investigation. The West Manchester Fire Department and the Preble County Emergency Management Agency responded to contain the leaked diesel, WHIO reported, and hazmat crews were called to the scene.
For drivers who use the travel center, the crash is a reminder of how tight those lots get: trucks parked overnight sit in rows with little room to maneuver, and a single misjudged exit can chain into the vehicles parked alongside — in this case leaving a wrecked dump truck, a fuel spill and a driver who did not stay to answer for it.
What happens next is the sheriff’s office investigation. Deputies are working to identify the semi and its driver from the Sunday-morning crash; anyone who saw a semi leaving the TA Travel Center lot around 6:46 a.m. Sunday, or traveling south on U.S. 127 afterward, is the kind of witness investigators will want to hear from. This story will be updated when the sheriff’s office releases more information.
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