Bath Police: Copley Man Hospitalized After Rollover

A man who went missing briefly last month after leaving home in his car is hospitalized today in serious but stable condition for injuries sustained in a rollover on Interstate 77.

said that , 89, of Kendall Road in Copley Township, was driving his 2004 Ford Escape just past the rest area on I-77 at 11:35 p.m. Sunday (Aug. 21) when he struck a 1996 Nissan Sentra parked on the side of the highway. 

Chief Michael McNeely said the car Waldrup was driving rolled over after hitting the other vehicle. "He was taken to Akron General Medical Center," McNeely said. "His son said he in doing well, and is very resilient for an 89-year-old man."

It is not known why Waldrup was out driving that evening. McNeely said that alcohol did not play a role in the collision.

The Bath Township Police Chief said he has asked the Ohio Department of Motor Vehicles to require Waldrup to retake his driver's test before he drives again.

"He does suffer from Alzheimer's and dementia," McNeely said, "so we have requested that the state consider requiring him to take the full test. That doesn't mean he wouldn't drive, but it's a step." 

A statewide missing adult alert was issued for the Waldrup by Copley Police July 28. Police believed he was headed to Marshall, North Carolina to visit a sister. Waldrup returned on his own a day later. Police said he got as far as southern Ohio and forgot where he was headed, but remembered how to get home.