Blagg

BUCKHANNON – An Upshur County man is facing felony charges after a motorcycle accident in which a 10-year-old was injured.

David Charles Blagg, 31, of Buckhannon, has been charged with child neglect with serious injury, leaving the scene of a serious injury, and altering registration, all felonies. He is currently being held in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail, on a $35,000 cash-only bond.

According to the criminal complaint, filed by Sgt. Tyler A. Gordon with the Upshur County Sheriff’s Office, on June 16 at about 5:35 p.m., the officer responded to a 911 call regarding a motorcycle crash involving a 10-year-old boy with injuries.

Two witnesses on the scene told Gordon that a man was riding a motorcycle on Crescent Avenue with a boy on the vehicle as well, the complaint states. The witnesses said the man “allowed the juvenile to operate the throttle, which led to a crash, which threw both occupants from the motorcycle.”

The wreck led to serious injuries for the boy, according to the complaint, who suffered “severe deep abrasions to his back and an abrasion to his face, which contacted the pavement of the roadway.” The boy also suffered three broken ribs and was transported to the Ruby Memorial Trauma Center in Morgantown. Neither the adult or the boy were wearing helmets, the complaint states.

Witnesses said the man “retrieved the motorcycle and fled, leaving the juvenile injured at the side of the road,” according to the complaint. Police determined that the man on the motorcycle was Blagg.

At the home of the boy and his mother, officers found the motorcycle “crashed again, into the garage door,” the complaint states. A witness said they saw the motorcycle rider return to the residence and yell to the mother that the boy was hurt. Video surveillance shows Blagg “picking up the motorcycle from under the garage door and attempting to start it back up.” Blagg then reportedly left the scene and was unable to be located until approximately 7 p.m.

Upon speaking to the police, according to the complaint, Blagg “admitted numerous times after the incident that he was allowing the juvenile to operate the full-size motorcycle on the roadway.”

The motorcycle’s license plate had been altered by handwriting an expiration sticker of June 2027, the complaint states. The registration plate returned no response from the state DMV.

Blagg’s drivers license is revoked for DUI, effective July 2023, and there was no insurance coverage on the motorcycle, nor had it been properly registered in West Virginia, according to the complaint.