Clermont County,OH : Driver in crash that killed Father Coleman identified by police on July, Sunday 16th 2017

The driver in a one-car accident that killed a popular priest last week leads a growing manufacturing company in Clermont County, according to the police report and online research.

The Rev. Christopher Coleman was a passenger in a 2014 Ford Mustang driven by Jeffrey Higgins, 51, of Milford, police said.

Higgins is listed as president and CEO of Savor Seasonings LLC, which manufactures seasonings for the snack food industry such as barbecue flavoring for potato chips. When his company, located in Batavia, expanded to a new site in February 2016, the Rev. Coleman gave an invocation and prayed for blessings on all the Savor Seasonings staff, The Clermont Sun reported.

The Rev. Coleman added a greeting to the company's Facebook page following the Feb. 19, 2016, dedication of the new location, saying "Ribbon cutting and Blessing of the new office/production facility. Best wishes to the Higgins family on their business!"

The Rev. Coleman was the pastor of the Winton Wyoming Pastoral Region, which includes the parishes of Our Lady of the Rosary in Greenhills, St. James of the Valley in Wyoming and St. Matthias in Forest Park.

Police said the crash happened at about 5:21 p.m. Sunday, July 9, on Mount Pleasant Avenue. The vehicle was driving west when the driver lost control of his vehicle and ran off the road, hitting a guardrail and flipping onto its top before coming to rest upside down in a sand trap on Wyoming Golf Course property.


Police said the Rev. Coleman was taken to University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead due to injuries received in the crash. Higgins refused treatment for his injuries.

Wyoming Police Chief Rusty Herzog said his department has turned the accident investigation over to the sheriff's office.

No charges have been filed. The chief said he expects a report on the investigation as early as Thursday.

Higgins could not be reached for comment.

The police report on the accident lists a Chukker Point Lane address for Higgins. That address matches the address listed as the headquarters of Savor Seasonings in the minutes from a 2014 Clermont County Board of Commissioners meeting at which the company was approved for an enterprise zone agreement exempting it from paying its full property taxes over an eight-year period.

Savor Seasonings last year earned an Emerging Excellence Award for companies with between one and 50 employees from the Clermont County Chamber of Commerce.

The Rev. Christopher Coleman died from injuries suffered
The Rev. Christopher Coleman died from injuries suffered in a traffic accident July 9. (Photo: File photo)
A regional Memorial Mass for the Rev. Coleman will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 19, at Our Lady of the Rosary Church,17 Farragut Road. Auxiliary Bishop Joseph R. Binzer will be the main celebrant and the Rev. Lambert Ulinzwenimana, the parochial vicar of the Winton Wyoming Pastoral Region, will be concelebrating the Mass.


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Driver in crash that killed Father Coleman identified by police