By Jane Prendergast
The Cincinnati Enquirer

FRANKLIN - A Dayton, Ohio, man who got out of his car to change a flat tire on Interstate 75 died Thursday when a passing vehicle slammed into him.

His was the third Tristate death in just over a month of motorists who have gotten out of their cars after an accident or a tire blowout on the interstate.

The fatality prompted police traffic experts to urge drivers to use more caution when their cars break down on the highway.

"You hear a lot of people say they don't want to ruin their rims, so they don't want to drive further off the roadway,'' said Officer Greg Toyeas of the Cincinnati Police Department's traffic unit.

"You might ruin the rim, that's true,'' he said. "But you can buy a new rim.

"That's better than losing your life."

Brandon R. Patton, 20, had pulled his car over on northbound I-75 near the Ohio 73 entrance ramp to change the tire about 2 a.m. Patton was hit by a pickup truck driven by Nicholas Hedges, 25, of West Chester Township. Hedges was taken to Miami Valley Hospital. His condition was unavailable Thursday.

Patton was dead when emergency workers arrived. Three passengers, who remained in his car, were not hurt.

Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers said they were headed to the area looking for the pickup truck after they got calls that it was being driven erratically. Troopers are investigating whether alcohol was involved in the crash.

The other recent fatalities:

• Alison Johnson, 25, of Pleasant Ridge, died Feb. 15 when she and her boyfriend, Antwan Stewart, got out of their car along I-75 in Monroe because it had a flat tire. A van drove off the road and hit them both, killing her. The van driver has not been found.

• Gentry Aubrey, a 24-year-old law student from Burlington, Ky., was killed Jan. 29 when he got out of his car on the Brent Spence Bridge in Covington. He'd slowed down to avoid hitting a broken-down car, was rear-ended by another driver and got out to check the damage. That's when a fourth vehicle hit them both, pinning Aubrey between the two cars, killing him. That driver was later arrested and charged with assault, leaving the scene of an accident and driving on a license that had been suspended because of a previous drunken-driving conviction.

The bridge has no breakdown lanes that allow a driver to pull out of travel lanes if his car breaks down.

Sgt. Rick Zwayer of the Ohio State Highway Patrol said drivers need to make themselves visible while they wait for help on the side of the road.

Troopers, he said, often will pull up behind disabled cars and turn on a squad car's flashing lights to alert other drivers to the potential hazard.

He also suggested that more drivers carry flares.

"You have to (stop), just get over as far as possible,'' he said. "There's a reason you're not permitted to stop on a highway except in emergencies - it's dangerous.''

E-mail jprendergast@enquirer .com