Student hit by dump truck has ‘waited long enough’ for police report, lawyer demands answers [The Lantern]

Daniel Chi / Asst. photo editor

Police officers survey the scene after a Sept. 5 bicycle accident where OSU student James Daniel Hughes was hit by a dump truck near Woodruff Avenue.

Nearly four months have passed since Daniel Hughes, an 18-year-old chemical engineering student at Ohio State, was hit and run over by a construction truck, and as no police report has been released, many details on the case remain unknown. Hughes’ lawyer said he’s willing to take legal action against the university for not cooperating and for not making routine information available.

While Hughes broke his silence to the media when he spoke with ABC-6 Tuesday, Steve Crandall, the Hughes’ lawyer, said he’s handling media inquiries for the Hughes family. The Lantern’s requests for comment from Hughes and his father, David Hughes, were unsuccessful.

Daniel Hughes was released from the Wexner Medical Center last month after being hospitalized since the Sept. 5 incident on Woodruff Avenue, and until last Friday, he had been receiving treatment at Dodd Hall Inpatient Rehabilitation Center in Columbus. Wednesday was Daniel Hughes’ first day of his outpatient therapy program.

Daniel Hughes’ parents and three younger siblings have since left their hometown of South Point, Ohio, and rented a Columbus apartment to be with Daniel Hughes during the holidays and as he goes through rehabilitation and continual pelvic surgeries to control a bone infection.

Crandall said that as Daniel Hughes tries to cope with the loss of roughly one-third of his body, including his right leg and hip, Crandall continues to search for answers from the university about the specific details of the accident.

“It’s frustrating to Daniel and his entire family that there’s still no report or time frame for when the report will be released,” Crandall said. “What is delaying that report, or even a portion of the report so that we can interview witnesses? I’ve been asking those questions but have found silence on those topics.”

[Keep reading at The Lantern]