Witnesses Say They Believe Driver Intended To Hit Man Who Ran Into Street To Save Dog

Chillicothe police are investigating a crash that left a 25-year-old man in the intensive care unit.

Joanne Throckmorton said she witnessed the entire crash, which occurred Tuesday afternoon on Adams Street.

“He was laying right here, and I said, ‘What happened?’ And they said he was just hit by a car, so I just flew out there and I bent down to him. His eyes weren’t open. He was just white,” Throckmorton said.

Her neighbor, Andrew Johnson, was the one who was struck.

“He says, ‘I think I broke my back. I can’t feel (anything),’” Throckmorton said.

Police said that Johnson ran into the street to get his dog when he was struck by a vehicle that never stopped.

The witness said she tried to comfort Johnson until medics arrived.

According to one witness, who asked that 10TV News not identify her because of safety concerns, said that the crash was not an accident.

She said she believed the driver, who was traveling at about 60 miles per hour, purposefully struck Johnson.

“They hit the kid, the kid went up in the air, I don’t know how many feet. He landed on the side of the road and didn’t move. The car just kept going,” the woman said.

The witness said the crash left her in shock.

“We just couldn’t believe it happened,” she said. “The kid put his hand up as a reflex like to tell the car to stop, but the car didn’t stop. It kept going.

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