SUV driver goes from hospital to jail

Police are awaiting test results before saying what substance was found on the driver.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
LIBERTY -- A Girard man was released from the hospital and spent the night in the Trumbull County Jail, and the Liberty woman he is accused of running over has been moved to a Cleveland hospital.
Anthony Ciminero, 33, was to be arraigned this morning in Girard Municipal Court on charges of attempted murder and two counts of felonious assault.
Police said Ciminero, an investment broker, rammed his Dodge Durango into a Chevrolet Malibu occupied by Robert and Nancy Norman of Liberty.
The couple had just finished loading their groceries into their car Tuesday evening at the Giant Eagle supermarket on Belmont Avenue when Ciminero drove his SUV into their parked car three times and pushed it over a curb and into a field, police said.
The couple jumped or were thrown from their car. Police said Ciminero drove over Nancy Norman, 43, who was lying on the ground.
No confrontation
There was no confrontation between Ciminero and the Normans before the episode, police said.
Mrs. Norman has been moved from St. Elizabeth Health Center to Cleveland MetroHealth Medical Center with a crushed pelvis, broken ribs and bruising to some internal organs.
She was in critical condition there this morning.
Witnesses told police Ciminero was waving his arms and yelling before getting into his SUV. He also struck another car, causing slight damage, before ramming the Normans, according to police.
Ciminero, who struck a light pole and the side of the Giant Eagle building, has been in Forum Health Northside Medical Center since the episode.
"Witnesses said he got out of the vehicle and just brushed himself off as if nothing was wrong," Police Chief Anthony Slifka said.
Police filed warrants for Ciminero Wednesday, but couldn't serve them until he was released from the hospital Thursday afternoon.
Slifka said suspected drugs were found by officers on Ciminero. He is awaiting test results before specifying what was found.
dick@vindy.com