PITTSFIELD TWP. — A man who fled the scene of an accident Monday with a toddler, reportedly because the girl was not in a car seat, faces a citation for obstruction of official business, according to the Ohio Highway Patrol.

Anthony Johnson, 19, of Oberlin, was a passenger in a Ford Focus driven by 18-year-old Shantell Seward of Lorain when it collided with a Subaru Outback driven by 47-year-old Kimberly Rawlings of Amherst at the intersection of U.S. Route 20 and Quarry Road, the State Highway Patrol said.

Seward told troopers that Johnson left the accident scene because he was scared police would take the baby away because it was in his lap and not in a car seat. She added that Johnson’s car had been towed recently with the car seat in it.

Johnson reportedly fled to his mother’s home on Route 20, where he was later found by the Highway Patrol.

Seward was cited for a child restraint violation, as she was driving the car. Rawlings was cited for failure to yield to a posted stop sign.

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