UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio — A man who served nearly 40 years behind bars for a murder he didn’t commit was indicted this week for vehicular homicide and other charges related to a hit-skip crash in March of this year that killed one construction worker in University Heights and injured another.
Wiley Bridgeman, 64, of Richfield, was indicted Monday on four charges: aggravated vehicular homicide, vehicular homicide, aggravated vehicular assault and failure to stop after an accident, according to court documents.
The crash happened around 3 a.m. on March 28 near the University Heights-South Euclid border.
Authorities say two workers were painting lines on Cedar Road near South Green Road when a vehicle heading east went across the center lines and struck them.
Bridgeman, the driver, fled the scene but later crashed into a telephone pole, officials said.
The 46-year-old worker from Elyria and the other worker, David W. Sollars, 54, of Rocky River, were taken to a nearby hospital. Bridgeman was also hospitalized.
Initially, Bridgeman was charged with vehicular assault, but following Sollars' death, another charge was handed down. Sollars is identified as the victim of the vehicular homicide in a court document for Bridgeman.
Bridgeman spent 37 years behind bars before he was exonerated in 2014 for a 1975 murder.
