The crash forced officials to close down northbound I-75 near the Bancroft Street overpass.
/ Eric Wildstein
TOLEDO -- Days after police said the driver of an SUV was texting before striking a worker on I-75, officers now say the driver was not using his phone at the time of the crash.
Ken Harder, 51, was pronounced dead hours after his SUV struck an Ohio Department of Transportation worker and truck on northbound I-75 Monday. Toledo Police issued a report stating Harder was texting at the time of the crash; however, hours later, police claimed a witness had told them she saw Harder texting prior to the crash.
A day after the incident, officers from the Toledo Police Traffic Bureau returned to the scene of the incident. A portion of Harder's cell phone was recovered from the scene. Police say after some investigation, they determined harder was neither talking nor texting on the phone at the time of the crash.
ODOT worker Mary Rich, who was standing behind her work vehicle, was not seriously injured when Harder's SUV slammed into her truck.
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