Truck driver accused in fatal collision free on bond

1/26/2006

DEFIANCE - A Canadian truck driver charged with negligent vehicular homicide in a crash that killed a 31-year-old man near Defiance on Tuesday was released on bond from jail yesterday and was to be appear tomorrow in Defiance Municipal Court.

Bond was set at $15,000 with 10 percent allowed for Syed M.A. Zoozan, 30, of Mississauga, Ontario.

He posted $1,500 to be released from the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio near Stryker.

He was also charged with failure to yield at a stop sign and failure to obey a traffic control device in the crash where Ronnie D. Chandler was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mr. Chandler's 10-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, who was riding with him, was flown to St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center inToledo, where she remained in serious condition yesterday.

Mr. Chandler's car was hit by Mr. Zoozan's tractor-trailer on Flory Road near Carpenter Road, just north of Defiance, the Ohio Highway Patrol said.

Mr. Chandler was eastbound on Flory about 4:50 p.m. when he was hit by the tractor-trailer driven southbound on Carpenter by Mr. Zoozan, who failed to yield at a stop sign, troopers said.

He was treated at Defiance Regional Medical Center.