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Pickup truck driver dragged motorcyclist on Interstate 74, sheriff says

Eastbound I-74 closed for nearly 8 hours
Posted at 6:58 AM, Oct 29, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-30 05:38:14-04

WHITEWATER TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- A pickup truck driver from Indiana hit and dragged a motorcyclist on Interstate 74 early Saturday morning, Hamilton County sheriff's spokesman Mike Robison said.

Motorcycle driver James Lamb, 55, of Cincinnati, was dead when deputies arrived at the scene. The interstate's eastbound lanes were closed near Ohio Route 128 for nearly eight hours. 

Brandon Bernhardt, 21, of Sunman, was charged with aggravated vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal crash, both second-degree felonies.

Bernhardt rear-ended Lamb's 1994 Honda motorcycle at about 3 a.m., the sheriff's office said.

Robison said Bernhardt dragged the motorcyclist a "significant distance." He ran into some woods once he stopped, Robison said. A K-9 unit found him in the woods about an hour later, and Robison said he was "seriously impaired."

Speed and alcohol played a part in the crash, the sheriff's office said.

Bernhardt was not injured.

WCPO will update this story as more information becomes available.