Reporter seriously injured in crash

Beacon employee's car hit from behind; other driver jailed after fleeing

By Craig Webb
Beacon Journal staff writer

A reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal is hospitalized in serious condition after a car crash on his way home from work early Sunday morning at a tollbooth on the Ohio Turnpike in North Ridgeville.

Sgt. Antonio Matos, of the Berea Post of the Ohio Highway Patrol, said Richard Koonce -- who works as a weekend metro reporter at the Beacon Journal -- had stopped at a tollbooth near Interstate 480 to pick up his toll ticket when his car was struck from behind around 2 a.m. Sunday.

Matos said the other driver ran from the scene but was apprehended about two hours later after North Ridgeville Police discovered him sitting in a yard along a residential street.

Koonce, who lives in Sandusky, was taken to Fairview Hospital in Cleveland where he was listed in serious condition Sunday night in intensive care with head and neck injuries.

Matos said the driver of the other car is in Lorain County Jail awaiting an initial court appearance on a charge of driving under the influence. Other charges probably will be filed, he said.

Marion Martin, Koonce's girlfriend, said the impact from the collision was so great that her boyfriend's four-door car now resembles a ``two-door'' model.

Koonce, 45, who has worked as a part-time reporter at the Akron Beacon Journal since June, is on leave of absence from the journalism faculty at Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Va., while he pursues a doctorate at Bowling Green State University.

Martin said Koonce has no memory of the accident.

``Thank God he's alive,'' she said.

Craig Webb can be reached at 330-723-7119 or cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com

[Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, Ohio, Monday, January 10, 2005, page B4, col.1]