OHP Arrests Tulsa Man In Connection With Nowata Co. Crash

By Tara Vreeland, The News On 6

NOWATA COUNTY -- A 46-year-old Tulsa man was arrested Monday morning in connection with a deadly hit and run collision earlier this year that killed three people. 

It happened in May on U.S. Highway 169 north of Delaware in Nowata County.

The collision killed 70-year-old Gene Hobbs of South Coffeyville, 15-year-old Kyler Blagg and 44-year-old Amy Blagg, both of Caney, Kansas.

Debra Hobbs says she had a dream about her father three weeks ago. It’s the first dream she has had about him since his death.

“It was so real,” said Debra Hobbs, the daughter of Gene Hobbs.

In Debra's dream, her father, Gene Hobbs, told her not to give up until the driver of the hit and run accident was caught.

On May 9th, the driver of a rare classic car, a 1955 Chevy Bel Air, tried to pass.

A car coming the other direction swerved to avoid hitting the classic car, but hit the Hobbs' head on.

The collision left 70-year-old Gene in a coma for nearly a month before he died. Two others were also killed. The driver of the classic car never stopped.

“I've got very strong dislike for taking that away, taking our dad away, just from his recklessness. There's no excuse for it, none,” said Debra Hobbs.

Now, six months to the day of the accident, an arrest is made.

“It was the phone call we had been waiting on for sure. And like you said, six months to the day, kind of ironic,” said Debra Hobbs.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol arrested Charles Strong, Jr. in Tulsa on Monday morning.

“I think what my feelings were, I was just kind of shaking with relief you know that at least hopefully some justice can come from this,” said Anna-Marie Hobbs, Gene’s widow.

The grief still fresh, Gene's family moves forward, hoping for justice, hoping for closure, and honoring the husband and father who they say never met a stranger and loved to dance and work on classic cars.

“This person, I hope he realizes the grief that he has caused. I don't think anybody knows what that feels like until they have gone through it themselves, but there isn't a day that goes by that I don't cry,” said Anna-Marie Hobbs.

Strong has been taken to the Nowata County jail where he faces three counts of second degree murder. He is being held on half a million dollars bond.

Related stories:
5/10/2009 2 Killed In Nowata County Hit-And-Run
5/19/2009 Search Continues For Driver In Deadly Crash
6/8/2009 Nowata Co. Fatality Accident Claims Another Life