Nearly eight months after a construction worker was killed in a hit-and-run crash on Interstate 70, a Columbus man has been indicted in connection with the fatal crash.
Jordan Thomas, 25, was killed early Feb. 28 after being struck by a maroon Toyota sedan in a construction zone on Interstate 70 west approaching State Route 315 Downtown, according to the Columbus police Accident Investigation Unit. Detectives said that the the driver of the Toyota sedan was traveling west on I-70 when he hit Thomas and a generator, then fled the scene.
The driver – identified as 44-year-old Aaron Swift, of the city's Hilltop area – was indicted Oct. 20 on charges of aggravated vehicular homicide, failing to stop after an accident on a public roadway, and tampering
with evidence, according to Franklin County Common Pleas Court filings. All three charges are felonies.
Thomas was on a morning crew working for Kokosing Construction on bridge decks and ramps when the crash occurred around 2 a.m. Feb. 28. The work was part of the Ohio Department of Transportation's ongoing, estimated $1.4 billion Downtown Ramp Up Project.
Thomas, who grew up in the Akron area, graduated from Manchester High School and completed a Fire and Rescue training program at Portage County Vocation School before moving to Columbus and going to work for Kokosing, according to his obituary in The Akron Beacon Journal.
Kokosing Construction offered a $100,000 reward through Central Ohio Crime Stoppers for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the person responsible. Columbus trucking company PFM Fleet Services offered an additional $10,000. The reward led to more information and leads for police, though it is not clear if one of those leads helped detectives bring charges to the Franklin County grand jury that indicted Swift.
Swift was arrested Oct. 20 by Columbus police and is being held in the Franklin County Corrections Center. His arraignment and bond hearing is scheduled for Oct. 23.
Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at smeighan@dispatch.com, at ShahidMeighan on X, and at shahidthereporter.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Hilltop man indicted in hit-and-run death of I-70 construction worker
