A 46-year-old Cincinnati man riding an electric bicycle was struck from behind and killed late Tuesday night on State Route 32 near Eastwood Road in Sterling Township, and the driver who hit him never stopped. James D. Daugherty was pronounced dead at the scene, and troopers are now asking the public for help finding a white Nissan Versa believed to have fled the crash with heavy front-right damage.
According to FOX19, the crash happened just after 10:30 p.m. Tuesday as Daugherty rode a Jansno electric bicycle westbound in the right lane of SR 32. State troopers say the vehicle struck him from behind before fleeing the scene. The News Democrat reports the crash occurred at approximately 10:36 p.m. and drew a multi-agency response, with the Mt. Orab Police Department, Mt. Orab Fire and EMS, the Brown County Sheriff’s Office and the Brown County Coroner’s Office all assisting the Ohio State Highway Patrol at the scene. The coroner’s office officially pronounced Daugherty dead there.
Investigators describe the fleeing vehicle as a white Nissan Versa from roughly the 2020 to 2025 model years, though authorities searching for the driver have also described it as a 2023 to 2025 model, per the same account. Anyone with information is urged to contact OSHP’s Georgetown Post at 937-378-6193 or 937-378-6191.
A Highway With a History of Deadly Crashes
The stretch of SR 32 near Eastwood Road has seen trouble before. Facebook posts from patrol post reports note the intersection was previously the site of another multi-vehicle fatal collision investigated by the Georgetown Post, underscoring long-standing safety concerns where rural Sterling Township roads meet the high-speed corridor. Countywide, SR 32 recorded 279 crashes between 2023 and 2025, making it Brown County’s second-most crash-prone roadway behind U.S. Route 68, according to Ohio State Highway Patrol safety data — an average of roughly 93 crashes a year on that road alone…