Oldham County Police charge man over fatal hit-and-run crash on Christmas

Oldham County Police officials have made an arrest in a fatal hit-and-run case that occurred on Christmas.

Gerald Rath, 58, was arrested just after 9 p.m. Wednesday, three days after the crash, according to a release from the department. He's been charged with leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in death or serious injury without rendering aid along with tampering with physical evidence, Oldham County Police said in a release.

Rath is accused of driving a Jeep that hit 60-year-old Gage Thurman on Sunday on W. KY-146, according to police. Thurman was killed in the crash.

According to an arrest citation, detectives found damage to a Jeep that belongs to Rath after visiting him following the incident that was consistent with a video of the crash. An Iowa Hawkeyes sticker on the driver's door that was shown on the video was also found on Rath's Jeep, the citation said.

Rath told police he had hit a deer and had returned to the scene several times but was unable to find it, according to the arrest citation. Rath gave police consent to search his garage, according to the citation, where they retrieved parts of his Jeep that had been removed from the vehicle.

Police added in the release that a "quick response" from business requests for video and community involvement helped in the arrest.

Rath did not appear to have an initial court date set as of early Thursday afternoon.

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Contact Caleb Stultz at cstultz@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Caleb_Stultz.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Oldham County Police charge man over fatal hit-and-run crash on Christmas