BURTON, Ohio — The community is mourning the loss of Joe Randall, a physical education teacher at Berkshire Local Schools who died in a crash on Wednesday.
Shortly after 7 a.m., Randall was driving his motorcycle northbound on State Route 44 in Newbury Township when he collided with a deer. He was thrown from the motorcycle before being struck by a commercial vehicle that was also heading north.
“It’s very unfortunate, but not uncommon,” said Geauga County Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand.
Randall, 60, had been with the Berkshire Local Schools for 18 years, according to his biography on the district’s website. He was a resident of Stow.
Superintendent John Stoddard told 3News Friday that Randall touched the lives of most of their students.
“We are devastated by this loss and express our deepest sympathies to his friends and family," Stoddard said.
Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand told 3News that collisions with deer happen more frequently this time of the year.
“This is the busiest time of the year for these card, deer accidents,” said Sheriff Hildenbrand. “October, November, December and they’re moving mostly in the mornings, in the early mornings five to eight and in the evenings as the sun goes down.”
In the last year, there have been 244 collision involving deer in Geauga County, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP).
The OSHP crash dashboard reports that 10% of deer involved collisions happen between six and seven o’clock in the morning. The second highest time frame is between six and seven o’clock at night.
“First thing you need to do is slow down,” said Sheriff Hildenbrand. “You don’t know if that buck is going to come out on the road or if he’s going to turn around and run back in the woods.”
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