Authorities on Wednesday continued their investigation into a man suspected of several Los Angeles-area sexual assaults who was killed along Interstate 70.
Abram Bynum died Tuesday afternoon after his white Cadillac slammed into a tanker truck along I-70 near state Route 256. Officers opened fire on Bynum, 35, as they approached his wrecked car.
Medics later pronounced him dead at the scene.
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The tanker's driver, Calvin Loyer, of Mount Gilead, suffered bumps and bruises during the crash. He was treated and released from a hospital on Wednesday.
Loyer told 10TV's Lindsey Seavert that it appeared Bynum was trying to kill himself. He said Bynum drove his car straight at his tanker truck.
"A split second before the impact I could him face-to-face," Loyer said. "We were just looking at each other. He didn't show any fear or try to throw his hands up to cover his face or fall down on his seat or anything. He just sat there watching me and it was over."
A coroner was still working to determine if Bynum died from injuries sustained in the crash, or from police gunfire, 10TV News reported.
According to detectives, DNA evidence had linked Bynum to five sexual assaults that occurred in Los Angeles County between 2004 and 2007, 10TV News reported.
Prosecutors in California had filed 19 charges against Bynum in connection with those crimes. He was also a suspect in at least three other sexual assaults, authorities said.
Police said that Bynum moved to Ohio in 2007 and was living with family members in Columbus.
"It turns out (Bynum) moved to Columbus, Ohio, around the time of the last rape," said Sgt. Dan Scott with the Los Angeles County Special Victims Unit. "So our detectives contacted Columbus police and asked them to get a (DNA) sample."
Police collected the DNA sample and were monitoring Bynum when Tuesday's pursuit began in the area of James Road.
The chase later continued on I-70.
Investigators said Bynum crossed the freeway's median in his Cadillac and struck a tanker traveling the other direction. Columbus Police Sgt. Rich Weiner said officers opened fire as they approached the car.
Weiner did not elaborate on what prompted the gunfire.
Watch 10TV News and refresh 10TV.com for continuing coverage.
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