RT. 82 CRASH Prosecutors, police to mull filing charges

The wife of one crash victim said it's a miracle her husband is alive.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
HOWLAND -- The Ohio State Highway Patrol will confer soon with the Warren city prosecutor's office to determine if charges should be filed in a crash that claimed the life of a 50-year-old Poland woman and injured several other people.
Lt. George Williams, commander of the patrol's Southington Post, which is investigating, said troopers think the tractor-trailer driven by Jageep Singh of New Jersey struck a vehicle driven by Joseph J. Zipay of Vienna, setting off a chain-reaction crash Monday.
Zipay remains in stable condition in St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown.
"It's a miracle he is alive," his wife, Diane, said this morning.
"He had surgery yesterday, and it was successful. The doctor's say his recovery will take four months to a year."
Mrs. Zipay said she was very sorry to hear that Vickie L. Dietrich died in the 6:20 p.m. pileup involving six vehicles.
Investigation
"We are trying to determine what happened, but basically it was caused by not paying attention," Williams said. "The tractor-trailer driver voluntarily gave us a urine sample that is being tested at the lab. The results of that will be given to the prosecutor, too."
No charges have been filed.
The case will go to Warren Municipal Court because Howland Township is in that jurisdiction.
A tractor-trailer, a pickup truck, three cars and a van were involved in the crash. All were headed east on Route 82. The accident occurred where eastbound traffic on the Route 82 expressway is forced to slow quickly from highway speeds as it approaches a traffic light at Howland-Wilson Road.
In a June 14 accident just west of the scene of Monday's crash, Roberto Duebelt plowed his tractor-trailer into a line of traffic backed up on the eastbound exit ramp from 46 to 82, killing one person and injuring 11 others, the state patrol said.
The patrol said Duebelt told troopers he fell asleep at the wheel in that accident.