According to a report by Law and Crime on Wednesday, August 7, 2024, a 55-year-old Ohio man, Jeffrey Jay Atkinson, was arrested last month for allegedly hitting a 9-year-old girl with his Hummer SUV while she was biking across a crosswalk. The child was dragged for several blocks before the driver fled the scene. Though the girl survived, she sustained “extensive trauma,” including the loss of the lower portion of her left leg.
Atkinson faces multiple charges, including two counts of vehicular assault, child endangering, failure to stop after an accident, and operating a vehicle while impaired.
The Dayton County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office issued a news release detailing the sequence of events on the night of July 22. According to the release, a Dayton Police Department officer was flagged down by a citizen reporting that a vehicle on Keowee Street was “dragging a girl under it.” Within minutes, numerous 911 calls confirmed the same incident, including one from the girl’s frantic mother who described her daughter being struck and trapped under the wheels of the Hummer.
“The vehicle, a Hummer, kept going, dragging her daughter with it,” the release states. “The mother didn’t know where her daughter was.”
The officer promptly located the injured girl at the intersection of Wayne Avenue and Clover Street, about 200 miles southwest of Cleveland. Medics were called to the scene, and officers applied tourniquets to the girl’s legs. Prosecutors detailed the severity of her injuries: “The lower portion of her left leg, including her foot, was missing below the knee, and her right leg had significant injury as well.”
A witness who had seen the incident pursued the driver and provided critical information to the police. The suspect’s vehicle was found at the Cowboy Lido Bike Stop Bar on Springfield Street, approximately 3.5 miles from where the girl was located. Atkinson, identified as the driver, emerged from the bar and was immediately recognized by several witnesses.
When approached by police, Atkinson admitted he was “too drunk to pass” a field sobriety test. The bodycam footage, obtained by Law&Crime, shows Atkinson stumbling out of the bar, wearing a black T-shirt with a skeleton graphic and the slogan “Support Your Local Outlaws.”
“Yes,” Atkinson responds unsteadily when asked if he owns the Hummer parked in the lot. He appears off-balance and at one point grabs the back of a chair for support. A bystander can be heard shouting, “I hope you go to jail for a long time, buddy,” while another adds, “Your judgment day is coming.” Atkinson appears to apologize, prompting the bystanders to hurl profanities at him for his actions.
When police inform Atkinson they need to conduct sobriety tests, he dismisses the necessity. “Oh f— that, I’m already impaired,” he says. “I already know that.” Despite agreeing to the tests, Atkinson offers an ironic excuse for his potential poor performance, explaining that he was severely injured in a previous motorcycle accident caused by a drunk driver. “I got hit head-on by a drunk driver and I’ve got metal all the way up my leg,” he explains, pointing to his left leg. “I’ve got metal in this (right) leg. I’ve got metal in this (left) arm.”
The footage later shows Atkinson admitting, “You know what? F— it, I’m drunk. I’ll admit it. I own a bar,” before being placed in the back of a police car. Atkinson was subsequently transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where he is being held on a $500,000 bond.
The case has drawn significant attention due to the severity of the child’s injuries and the alleged actions of Atkinson.